The man from Stregna

A man with a limp – a Genius – arrives in a village at the break of dawn. The man goes from house to house in search of work but is turned away, regarded with suspicion by the villagers. His wandering finally ends when a man takes him into his service. From that moment on, we follow the genius in his various tasks, in the village, in the stable, in the fields, and in the woods. The atmosphere around him calms, people welcome him, and children surround him with affection. The genius is able to live his dignified existence. Told this way, it might seem like a naive moral allegory. But what stands out in this film is the way the story is told, starting with the fact that it unfolds in an authentic setting, not reconstructed, in a rural village, highlighting the rhythms of a traditional community, one that we were allowed to observe once more before its final disappearance. What strikes is the intensity of the performance by the villagers, who for two years – the length of the shooting – allowed themselves to be involved in the cinematic adventure of their young fellow villager.

Through the fiction that stages the social dynamics of a rural microcosm, skillfully blended with a documentary-like perspective ready for improvisation, the film also suggests a possible universal and ever-relevant reading: the man with an unknown past, the outsider, the "other" who appeared out of nowhere in a village, armed only with his human intensity, breaks through the wall of frozen habits, ingrained prejudices, distrust, and relentless defense that are typical of a closed world.