The Press no. 8/2011
San Remo. Benigni. Lecture. Benigni, God bless him. The lesson was for everyone, indiscriminately. And, at least from the peak ratings, it seems that everyone followed. It seems to happen by chance. The epiphany of light is always guaranteed with Roberto Benigni, a thoughtful and respectful teacher who is passionate about what he knows, how he wants to communicate it, and the brains that gather words and meanings.
Regardless of the context, no matter what the cue, the miracle happens and a stage is transformed into a cathedra. The rare pearl of authority appears evident. A few minutes is enough to suspend comparisons with everything else that television normally releases. The pattern of being right at all costs seems to us, finally, vulgar and trivial. One gentleman says and many listen. And there is no need for satire or even seriousness. Satire is like the dialect of thought. Seriousness is too undemocratic. We learners need a pure, powerful, rich and established language to learn. We are finally willing to consent to the changes in tone, from sotto voce to shouting, because in this case they do not mean submission, uncertainty, falsehood or bullying.
Benigni rips apart history, literature and various other expressions of men for us and, in order to present them to us, uses his own conviction without concessions to the wink of proselytizing. As in the classrooms of any school, there will have been someone a little hard of understanding who may have felt like getting distracted or someone else who, “born learned” and arrogant enough, may have tried to belittle the teacher’s greatness. But normal beings by intellect and honesty will have felt at least delighted. The ingredients in the recipe are not few. Enchantment should not be trivialized. A people are not free just because they can choose the answer to a poll on left and right, cow or goat cheese, chocolate or cream cookies. He is free when he learns and knows and finds the poetry of conscious living. Benigni interprets this need. The other night, starting with Mameli’s anthem, he gave us an understanding of what and how and why the rights and duties of a media can be used. The social implication of such an event is profound, so much so that we wish for more frequent appointments. Do you want to, Roberto?
