Italian Politics in rockumentary
Nazi
Rock and the legitimization of the far right parties
'How
to legitimize the swastika and the Roman salute' is the beginning of the web page
of Nazi Rock. Awarded at the twelfth
edition of the Meeting delle etichette indipendenti (Meeting of Independent Labels),
the Claudio Lazzaro's rockumentary is the second movie of the former journalist
of the main Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera
By MARCO RICIPUTI
from
Ravenna, ITALY
After the experience with the Corriere della
Sera Lazzaro spent the severance pay founding the Nobu Productions, where Nobu
means no budget. Nazi Rock follows the first documentary 'Camice
Verdi' that reports on Lega Nord, the controversial identitary party that
has made the secession of the North Italy from the rest of the country and federalism
its strong point. "When there is artistic expression there is a common identity",
this is the thesis of the director who turns the camera on the music groups of
extreme right and their fans.
Young, nice and clean
"The
documentary shows the legitimization of the Nazi-fascist right by a cynical center-right
hunting for votes," summarizes Lazzaro. The film is divided into two main
parts. Start with the event organized in 2006 by Berlusconi's center right coalition
Casa della Libertà against Prodi's government, which sees the participation of
radical right parties. A moment that the current president of the Chamber of Deputies
Gianfranco Fini, at that time leader of the main right party Alleanza Nazionale,
called it a "political masterpiece" because gave back legitimacy to
all parties of the right.
In the second part Lazzaro shows the youth camp
organized by Forza Nuova, a party rooted in the fascist tradition and characterized
by a Catholic confessional attitude. He interviews young people "who do not
have bad faces and handle with nonchalance merchandising such as swastikas, books
of revisionist historicians and dance listening nationalist punk rock bands".
In
the opinion of Luca Lorenzi, spokeperson of right youth movement Gioventù italiana,
the documentary "has a bias against the young people attracted from the right
parties" and he accuses the attempt of the director to use "the usual
anti-fascist leitmotiv" to attract attention.
The industry of fear
"Germany
faced the history, in Italy we didn't" says Lazzaro pointing out a scene
in the movie where at the arrival of Udo Voigt, leader of the German far right
party Npd, the public is awarded to not welcome him with the Roman salute because
he is liable to be imprisoned on his return home.
According to Lazzaro,
there is a strong cooperation at the European level between the movements of the
far right. "There is a politics of fear that uses the uncertainties of globalization",
stresses the director, "which hasn't the tools to understand our days falls
into those ideologies".
In Italy the party of the right better linked
with the European far right political scene is Forza Nuova. The leader Roberto
Fiore sits in the European Parliament and the party is part of the European far-right
political block National Front
that counts the Falange Española, the Romanian Noua dreapta and the German Npd.
The other right parties in Italy are Fiamma Tricolore, with the leader Luca Romagnoli
in the European Parlament too, and La Destra.
The film - not warmly welcomed
from right - has encountered considerable difficulties in distribution. The director
denounces intimidation actions against the theatre operators who had to schedule
it. The website has been hackered and a fake copy - with a modified end - has
been released through the peer-to-peer software. You can buy it with English subtitles
either online or in bookstores.
Check out the
trailers.
(Published: 10.02.2009.)
