Matera, with the Sassi (caverns) as shown in Ivens’ l’Italia non è un paese povero 

A notorious sequence in Ivens’ film oeuvre was shot in the Italian city of Matera. In the framework of his documentary l’ Italia non è un Paese Povero (1960) Ivens filmed deplorable poverty in the hollow city of Matera: poor people living in the caverns built into the calcareous rock. This sequence was censored and cut from the version broadcasted in Italy by RAI for the simple reason that they didn’t want to show poverty in a film focussing on industrial progress. 
A new film about Matera, called Hollow City, directed by Andrea de Sica, shows the remarkable switch from a deplorable area, kept secret because of shame, towards a spectacular cultural pinnacle, praised by UNESCO, the World Monuments Fund and famous directors. 

 

When Enrico Mattei, head of Italy’s National Fuel Trust ENI (Ente Nazionale Idrocarburi). commissioned Joris Ivens to make a film about the optimistic perspectives for Italy’s economy and society after the exploration of gas by ENI, he knew that Ivens was not in for state propaganda. Ivens made a documentary mixed with fiction, dream sequences, imagination, futuristic music, but also critical sequences. Like the one shot in Matera.


 Enrico Mattei visits a plant

Although Mattei left Ivens complete freedom the state television station RAI didn’t agree with especially the Matera-sequence. Until today RAI will not show this censored part.
In the meanwhile the reputation of Matera completely changed, thanks to these very caverns. By interviewing citizens from Matera Andrea de Sica wants to explain in Hollow City how the situation today differs from the situation back in the 1950’s and 1960’s.   

  sequence from l`Italia non è un paese povero 

The caverns in the ancient town of Matera share a history of centuries. They are called the ‘Sassi di Matera’, meaning ‘stones of Matera’. The Sassi originate from a prehistoric settlement, and are suspected to be some of the first human settlements in Italy. The Sassi are houses dug into the calcareous rock itself, which is characteristic of the regions Basilicata and Apulia. In 1945 Carlo Levi wrote a famous book about this region of Lucania  (which is known today as Basilicata), describing the extreme poverty. The peasants lacked basic goods because there were no shops in the village. Homes were sparsely furnished. Healthcare was atrocious. The religious values of the villages Levi visited were a mixture of Christianity and mysticism. In a way Ivens’ sequence in Matera echoes this book Christ Stopped at Eboli (ItalianCristo si è fermato a Eboli). It also reminded him of the situation in Borinage, in the poor situation unemployed miners and their families had to live.  

In the 1950s, the government of Italy forcefully relocated most of the population of the Sassi to areas of the developing modern city. However, people continued to live in the Sassi, and according to the English Fodor`s guide: ‘Matera is the only place in the world where people can boast to be still living in the same houses of their ancestors of 9,000 years ago.’ Until the late 1980s this was considered an area of poverty, since these houses were, and in most areas still are, mostly intolerable.

Current local administration, however, has become more tourism-oriented, and has promoted the reconstruction of the Sassi with the aid of the European Union, the government, UNESCO, and Hollywood. Today there are many thriving businesses, pubs, and hotels. Some caverns were transformed into expensive houses for yuppies.

Because of the ancient and primitive scenery in and around the Sassi, it has been used by filmmakers as the setting for ancient Jerusalem. The following famous biblical period motion pictures were filmed in Matera: Pier Paolo Pasolini’s The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964), Bruce Beresford’s King David (1985), Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ (2004),Catherine Hardwicke’s The Nativity Story (2006), Other famous movies filmed in the city include: Alberto Lattuada`s La Lupa (1953), Giuseppe Tornatore`s The Star Maker (1995) and The Omen (2006).

Andrea de Sica himself is the grandchild of famous Italian director Vittorio de Sica, after the war a leading figure of the neorealist movement (Ladri di biciclette, 1948). When Ivens met Vittorio De Sica in Italy during his cineclub tour they agreed to make a film together. This plan was never realized.

Watching Hollow City: www.hollowcity.net

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