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Showing posts with the label Matera 2019

The History Behind a Key Scene in Francesco Rosi's 'Christ Stopped at Eboli'

(Andate sotto per leggere la nostra intervista in Italiano) In Part Two of our series on the release of Francesco's Rosi's complete uncut version of Christ Stopped at Eboli, we are looking into a key scene in which Carlo Levi talks with Gagliano's mayor about the briganti freedom fighters and the peasants' never-ending struggles with red tape and government. He referenced the Siege of Melfi where he believes it all began, because up to that point, the region of Basilicata or the South for that matter had its own wealth. He went on to explain that the battle had a far-reaching effect on Lucania because not only were the riches taken and the city of Melfi destroyed, but the people were also killed. How does a culture recover when much of the population is wiped out? Today, when we speak of poverty in the South of Italy, it is worth noting that even though it was a few hundred years ago, the Siege of Melfi forever changed the region of Basilicata and impacted the...