A poetic documentary on the experience of the war in Ukraine in people’s lives, in search of meaning in suffering: it is “Turn in the Wound” by Abel Ferrara, presented as an Italian premiere this evening on the closing day of the 20th edition of Biografilm Festival of Bologna.
“It’s a film of performance, poetry, music and the experience of people at war”, the American director defined it. “A search for meaning in infinite suffering and conflicts that echo in the past”: “Turn in the Wound”, added Ferrara, is “a look at the eternal search for freedom against the nightmare of oppression and military force” .
The voice of the ‘priestess of rock Patti Smith, who sings and intimately reads the works of the poets Antonin Artaud, René Daumal and Arthur Rimbaud, joins the testimonies of soldiers and those living in the combat zones of Ukraine and in the words of their President Volodymyr Zelensky. The singer-songwriter thus offers a profound emotional reflection on the yearning for freedom in the face of the violence that has been upsetting the lives of Ukrainians since February 2022.
Abel Ferrara, author of the cult film “Bad Lieutenant”, explores human conflict and the search for peace and balance through music and words and through the experiences of people at war in Ukraine.
“When the Dalai Lama is asked how he can help the world, he replies ‘by being the best version of myself.’ When I see Patti Smith in her work, in her life, the poet, the singer, the mother, or President Zelensky who governs with humility, I am inspired, I want what they have, I want to be close to them, learn from them, film them – declares the director – War is far from my immediate reality, but it is the reality of too many people who are like me. Death and destruction can only be fought with contrary actions, love, compassion, empathy, poetry, films.
