Christie Books

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Il Figlio di Bakunin – The Son of Bakunin (1997 Gianfranco Cabiddu – Italian)

In Sardegna, alla fine degli anni Trenta, Antoni Saba, proprietario di una calzoleria in un paesino di minatori, vive con spirito libertario e indipendente, al punto di avere ricevuto da tutti il soprannome di Bakunin. Tullio Saba diventa quindi, per quanti lo conoscono, il figlio di Bakunin. Dagli anni Trenta alla fine degli anni Cinquanta, Tullio, cresciuto e diventato uomo, intreccia la propria storia con quella dell’isola, la guerra, il difficile dopoguerra, le lotte sociali, la ricostruzione, i problemi legati allo sviluppo e alla modernizzazione della terra, del lavoro, della vita familiare. Si susseguono, tra una ricostruzione e l’altra di vari episodi, le testimonianze di chi l’ha conosciuto, di chi l’ha amato, di chi ne ha avuto paura. Chi era Tullio in realtà? Un capopopolo, un opportunista, un idealista, un traditore, un eroe? Quando Tullio muore, lascia un figlio, che oggi, a sua volta cresciuto, è tornato in quei luoghi per ricostruire la vita di un padre che non ha mai conosciuto di persona e che cerca di scoprire, facendo parlare uomini e donne, amici e nemici.
Gianfranco Cabiddu directed this mockumentary on the life and loves of fictional Italian folk hero Tullio Saba (Fausto Siddi) – miner, wedding singer, anti-fascist, unionist, and politician. Based on the book by Sergio Adtzeni, the faux documentary employed many non-professionals to portray Tullio’s family, friends, and opponents. Shown at 1998 film fests (Venice, Rotterdam), the English language title of this film is The Son of Bakunin

I diari della Sacher: Vita di un anarchico sardo (2001 – Roberto Nanni – Italian)

E’ la storia di Antonio Ruju: dalle origini nella poverissima Sardegna inizio ‘900 alla lotta al fascismo, fino alla completa adesione all’anarchismo. La sua vita è costellata di episodi straordinari che hanno come elemento dominante la lotta ai soprusi e alle ingiustizie.  (Libro di memorie di Antonio Ruju “Vita di un anarchico” tratto dall’Archivio diaristico di Pieve Santo Stefano)

TESTAMENT by Duncan Pickstock (13 films)

I tend not to take a position. I am against many things but for very little.  I see the worst in everyone and in every situation. I believe nobody acts out of altruism and everybody has an agenda. Everybody’s in it for what they can get.  I think those who profess to truly believe in something are either careerist scoundrels who see it as a vehicle to take them where they want to go or naive people who don’t get the bigger picture. Idiots at worst, deluded at best. But at the same time, there is an element of envy on my part. Cynicism is exhausting.  Always sitting on the fence sniping at the committed becomes a pain in the arse.  To believe must be liberating. No more questions, only certainty. And there are those whose convictions can’t be so readily dismissed. There are many intelligent  people who believe something so strongly that they  use violence in its name. Many kill and risk being killed not for personal profit or because they or their loved ones are threatened, but because morally they feel they have no alternative. Testament is a series of interviews with people who, over the last 70 years felt compelled to involve themselves in armed struggle because they felt it was the right thing to do : men who went to fight fascism in Spain in the 1930s, who took up arms for the radical left in Britain in the 1960’s and 70s or who went to fight in Beirut in the late 70’s and others who went to fight in Croatia and Bosnia in the 1990s.  The subjects of the films don’t talk about what they did after they decided to fight. They are not war stories. Rather the films try and explore what it was that led these individuals to feel so strongly about something that they were prepared to fight in defence of it. The project is a study of those who have chosen to fight not because they are compelled to by their government but because they feel that morally they have no alternative. The subjects of the films have all, over the last 70 years, chosen to risk their lives because they felt it was the right thing to do. They are not mercenaries as they were not motivated by the money they could earn, their motives were not so crass and are infinitely more difficult to quantify. So, when so many choose not to act, what is it that makes someone choose to fight for something so much bigger than their country? Each person interviewed tells their story in their own words, and every interview has been approved. Please note that each film has a 10 second lead-in in black.
http://www.duncanpickstock.co.uk/

Interviewees: Bob Doyle; Chris Allen; Conrad Singer; Danny Kington; John Barker; Lars Newbould; Mark Barnsley; Martyn Lacey; Sam Lesser; Steve Fullarton; Stuart Christie; Terry Maloney