Qhis evening on Rai 1 it airs at 9.30pm Everything for my son, a film that combines civil commitment with an effective true-to-life story. Directed by Umberto Marino and starring Giuseppe Zeno, in 2023 he won the prestigious Ribbon of Legality, an award awarded by the Italian Film Journalists (SNGCI)demonstrating that, in its small way, cinema can also contribute to shaking consciences.
Everything for my sonthe plot
Campania, 1996. Raffaele Acampora (Giuseppe Zeno), married to Anna (Antonia Truppo) and father of 4 children, is a small farmer from the Caserta area. A difficult profession, inherited from his father but which he carries on with dignity. Every day he goes to the municipal market to sell his animals in a territory infested by the Camorra, which annoys and threatens the workers.
This criminal organization not only keeps the State in check but attracts the younger generations. Without hope in a difficult world like theirs, they think that the only path forward is that of crime.
One of these boys is Peppino (Giuseppe Pirozzi), his son. The teenager is attracted by easy money and drops out of school. To bring him back on the right path, his father forces him to help him with his work. When one of the criminals insistently asks him for protection money Raffaele, to demonstrate to his son that another life is possible, he firmly opposes the exorbitant request.
Not only does he refuse but he decides to gather around him other colleagues and breeders, oppressed like him by the racket. The spontaneous group soon organized itself into a real union. Thus he began to collaborate with the judiciary and the police, providing important information on the criminal figures of the area. The man’s courage will put his life and the safety of his loved ones at risk.
Who was actually the protagonist of Everything for my son
Freely inspired by a news story from the 90s, the film pays homage to courageous personalities like those of Federico Del Prete. The man, who had rebelled against the protection money demanded from street market vendors, had started a battle for legality in the role of trade unionist and supporter of criminals.
Federico Del Prete was killed by a hitman in 2002, on the eve of the trial of a traffic policeman – a supporter of the Camorra – who he himself had denounced. Although the trial was canceled due to lack of witnesses, Del Prete’s death was not in vain. His sacrifice has given hope and generated worthy initiatives such as an anti-racketeering association.
in “Everything for my son” Giuseppe Zeno is a courageous father to his son Peppino. (Giuseppe Pirozzi)
The style and themes of the film
The subject of the storyof Vergian memory, he chooses the universe of the humble and oppressed. The story of Raffaele Acampora is the black mirror of a society that struggles to assert its rights and that, despite having few means other than his own courage and love for his son, decides to go against a ruthless organization, capable to erase his existence and that of his loved ones.
He is not a prominent figure, he is not a cultured magistrate or a member of the police force, trained to deal with crime but an ordinary citizen exasperated by constant injustices. The drive starts from the fear of losing her son in a whirlwind of violence but his tenacity and sacrifice go from being personal to universal.
Umberto Marino (Born again), who wrote and directed the film, said he was inspired by the rhetoric-free style of Ken Loach. Although the works of the director of The Old Oak are visually and conceptually different, he captures some points such as the choice of a photograph far from any theatrical emphasis.
“Everything for my son.”
The use of neomelodic songs accentuates the commitment to supporting the territorial roots and its time. Its social value is not only achieved by the chronicle story but by the portrait of those who, in a hostile world, he has everything to lose for a just cause but he can’t help but fight, to believe that there can be another lifeanother way of taking back one’s dignity.
The cast: 42 roles!
The large cast includes 42 actors – between large and small roles – coming largely from the prestigious Neapolitan school. It couldn’t be otherwise: the use of interpreters linked to the territory and the dialect of Campania restore the right atmosphere, dramatic and realistic, which gives a precise stylistic tone to the film.
The courageous protagonist Raffaele is Giuseppe Zenoappreciated performer of successful television series. We remember him in particular in Blancain the role of Inspector Michele Liguori.
Antonia Truppo is his wife Anna. A well-known face of Italian cinema, she twice won the David di Donatello for Best Supporting Actress in They called him Jeeg Robot (2015) e Indivisible (2016).
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