They have passed 10 years since Mario Monicelli decided to take his own life, throwing himself from the fifth floor of theSan Giovanni Addolorata hospital a Roma. At that exact moment, Italian cinema found itself the orphan of one of the greatest directors, the one who gave birth to the famous "Italian comedy". Artist of great talent and brilliant intuition, Monicelli wrote some of the most memorable pages of Italian cinema thanks to films of the caliber of Guards and thieves (1951) I soliti ignoti (1958) The Great War (1959) The Brancaleone army (1966) A little petty bourgeois (1977) and the first two acts of the trilogy of My friends (1975 and 1982 respectively).

Ulife behind the camera: Monicelli and the cinema

Son of the reporter Tomaso Monicelli (director ofNEXT, who committed suicide in 1946), the young Mario took his first steps in cinema at a very young age. Born in Roma, but moved as a child to Viareggio (his adopted city), directed his first short film "Revealing heart" at the age of 19 years, in 1934. During his long life, Monicelli collaborated with the greatest directors, from Pietro germi a Steno, Up to Federico Fellini, but also actors of the caliber of Vittorio Gassman, Toto, Hugh Tognazzi e Alberto Sordi, his reference actor. Mario Monicelli touched the prize Oscar, two as screenwriter and four as best foreign film, but he never won the coveted Hollywood statuette. On the other hand, there were numerous prizes in the motherland, including a Leone d'Oro in 1959 and a second career in 1991.

Monicelli with the Leone d'Oro of Venice in 1959 together with Roberto Rossellini
Photo: © B. Bruni - Wikimedia Commons.

Monicelli was able to masterfully describe Italy in the second half of the 900th century and its drama, hiding it behind a humorous and amusing veil. An example in this sense is The usual unknown, film considered as the progenitor of the Italian Comedy. Under the guise of the "caper movie”(In which a gang of criminals organizes the coup of his life), Monicelli was able to add the component neorealist, telling of the Poor Rome from the late 50s.

Case apart it is A little petty bourgeois (1977), film starring a masterful Alberto Sordi, winner 4 Silver ribbons e 3 David by Donatello. This is considered by many to be the film that marks the end of the Italian Comedy. The drama experienced by the protagonist leaves no room for fun. The society of the time is shown in its tragic crudity and Sordi's interpretation, in an unusual dramatic actor's performance, makes it all more real.

Mario Monicelli and the fear of old age

Mario Monicelli's relationship with death has always been "challenging". As the director himself stated in an old interview: "death has never scared me, old age yes, because without working you get very bored". The dreaded old age led him to the decision of suicide, for "don't end up in a hospital bed with relatives who bring me soup". Afflicted by a terminal prostate cancer, at the age of 95 years, Monicelli decided to follow the same fate as his father. Speaking of parent choice, in an interview with Vanity Fair in 2007, Monicelli said he understood that tragic gesture: "Life isn't always worth living; if it stops being true and dignified it's not worth it".

Monicelli touching his left ear
Photo: © Gianmaria Zanotti - Wikimedia Commons.

Monicelli's was an extraordinary life, always lived according to his rules. The “last of his bullshit”(To quote my friends), he left a void which, even after 10 years, it was impossible to fill. What the director would have thought of today's Italy, destroyed by the emergency Covid-19? Unfortunately we will never know… and maybe it is better this way.

Mario Monicelli: 10 years without the great Roman director last edit: 2020-11-29T19:07:30+01:00 da Antonello Ciccarello

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