Dear Letizia Moratti, minister of Education, and dear Giuliano Urbani, minister of Cultural Assets, I am writing to you following a small, tiny brainwave. Where did it occur? You are indiscrete, but because it is important for purposes of the proposal I want to make to you, I shall say it happened at Taormina, during last film festival in July, which I happened to follow live on RaiSat cinema. For two evenings in a row, I watched films in the original English language, with Italian sub-titles.
Exactly the opposite of that which normally occurs in cinemas where all the foreign films are dubbed, often very well indeed considering we have an internationally renowned dubbing school and tradition. (And the affection the public has for the most loved voices I was able to realise the last time just a few weeks ago unfortunately on a sad occasion, the funeral of Ferruccio Amendola, outstanding dubber, real actor and the man who gave the Italian voices to Al Pacino, Dustin Hoffman, De Niro etc.).
But this is precisely the point, dear new ministers - perhaps we ought to stop it... But one thing at a time - let me continue with the details. I saw an English film, “Enigma”, a fairly interesting story tied to the events of the Second World War, and an American film, “The Hole”, a thriller that often achieved great filmmaking moments. I shall not review it here however. Both films have already reached Italian cinemas. But - this is the point - both obviously dubbed.
The fact is that I had not seen a film in the original language, with sub-titles, for some time and spoilt as I was, as we are, by the habit of dubbing, which goes down easily like a glass of water... Well, it’s another sport: for the overall quality and identity of the work, and therefore also for you, Urbani, whose cultural responsibilities also comprise films, and for the relations, the emotional and intellectual link that the original language creates with the spectator, and therefore for you, Moratti, whose (unfortunately I am afraid only theoretically, but who knows, maybe I am irremediably pessimistic, and you have already shown fighting spirit as regards state-private relations, unstable jobs, etc.) decisive ministry cannot I think exclude the study and knowledge of foreign languages.
I cannot remember whether the E of English was among the Es of the cultural programme of the new prime minister’s government: I think it was, and if it wasn’t, put it there. Without English, our children and by now grandchildren can’t go anywhere either physically or virtually or intellectually. And I defy you, Urbani and Moratti, to find a better way than a film for making a language known: a bond of structural understanding is created with the story, in which significant and signified are amalgamated by the image - much better than hearing English spoken in the classroom!!! I read in reports from Venice (cf the Film Festival...) that the director/wife of Bernardo Bertolucci, Claire People, agrees with me...and to complete the information, I must tell you, Ministers, that Bertolucci’s photographic magician, Vittorio Storaro, on the contrary, has told me in Taormina that his view is quite the opposite.
Why? Because otherwise, he fears, people will be distracted from the image while looking at/reading the sub-titles. Of course, that is the view of a photographer... Naturally, you might object, this way dubbers will end up out of a job...I think what we need is a cultural re-conversion, as has occurred in other sectors of the country, where we have been capable of rethinking things and planning. It won’t happen all at once, it will take time, but I think it is the right road both for films and the language.
What better chance than that of a government that has just begun for providing guidelines of this type?
Kind regards, O.B.