All language subtitles for Francesco Rosi-1992-Neapolitan Diary.eng

FRANCESCO ROSI EXTENDS
HIS THANKS TO ALL THOSE

WHO UNKNOWINGLY JOINED HIM
ON THIS RETURN VISIT TO NAPLES.

NEAPOLITAN DIARY

Screenplay by

Directed by

Sit down, all of you.

On your feet. Come on!
What's your name?

No nonsense. What's your name?
- Mario Cuomo.

- What were you doing there?
- Snatching purses.

Snatching purses, huh? They only
push there: Cocaine, heroin, pot.

I was snatching purses.

Maybe you didn't understand me.

You won't be going home tonight.

Give it some thought.
What were you doing?

Snatching purses.

I�ll see him later in my office.

What's your name?
- Esposito, Bruno.

- Age?
- Fifteen.

- What were you doing?
- I was pushing.

- How long have you been pushing?
- Three months.

- How about getting a real job?
- That's a drag.

A drag! Sit down.

Name?
- De Biasi, Antonio.

- Who were you with?
- Bruno.

Bruno's your friend?
The one who pushes?

You didn't know he was dealing?
Just keeping him company?

What do you do?
- Nothing.

- Why don't you go to school?
- I don't like it.

Sit down.

What's your name?
- Titta, Ciro.

- Age?
- Sixteen.

People shoot up around there.
What about you?

You don't shoot up?

You push? Why?

To bring some money home.

Sit down.

What's your name?
- Salvatore.

- Do you shoot up?
- Yes.

- What's it cost you?
- 100,000 lire.

A day?

Where do you get the money?
- I steal.

You steal. Sit down.

What were you doing?
- Buying pot.

- For yourself?
- And to sell.

To sell? Sit down.

And you? What's with you?

- I carry money.
- You don't go to school?

How old are you?
- Fourteen.

You don't go to school?
Sit down.

You're the one
with the motorbike.

You're a courier.
- No, I just stole the bike.

You just stole it?
Sit down.

What were you up to?

I just went to see
what was going on.

Okay, sit down.

You're older.
Why were you there?

- To collect.
- For the dope?

Collecting for whom?
- I don't know who.

You don't know?

Another film about Naples?

Yes, another one.

Excuse me,
but haven't we had enough?

Ask him.

You're Francesco Rosi, the director.
I recognize you.

Why all these films about Naples?

See one and you've seen them all:
Street urchins, the Camorra, drugs,

chaos.

That's what the times
have to offer.

I�m from Turin,
but I really love Naples.

Although Neapolitans
don't care much for work

and we Northerners
have to maintain them,

they're such happy,
fun-loving people.

- I like that. Write that down.
- Sure.

Preconceptions about Naples -
even favorable ones -

miss the target.

True.

Let's hope your movie
is a good one.

A north wind.
Good for sailing.

We're stuck.

We can't be!
People are waiting for me.

You can walk. It's close by.

Walk? With all this luggage?

What can I say?
This is Naples.

Come on. We're gonna walk.

Let's not waste time!

I�m late.

Let's go.

Don't get all worked up!

Is it far from here?

No, the university's nearby.

We only took a cab
because of the luggage. It's close.

They're probably all there waiting.

- Let's pick up the pace.
- What? This thing's heavy!

We students of
the School of Architecture

consider it important

to bring the debate on Naples

back to our university.

Did you do your homework?
Who knows what they expect of you.

We must think back 30 years

and retrace those events
that have so changed this city.

We thank all those present,

aware, however, of the significant
absence of certain notables.

We can start the screening.

GOLDEN LION, VENICE 1963

Yes, the city's
spreading that way

per the urban
development plan.

That's why we have
to bring it over here.

- Just like that?
- Change the urban plan!

- What?
- We change the plan!

No need.
This land is zoned for farming.

What's it cost a square meter?
Maybe 500 or 1,000 lire?

But tomorrow this same land,

this same square meter,

could be worth
70,000 lire or more.

It's all up to us.

A 5,000-percent profit.

There it is.
That's today's gold.

What can beat that?
Business? Industry?

"The industrial renaissance
of the South. "

Sure, invest in factories:
Strikes, unions, medical benefits.

It'll give you
a heart attack.

I�m proposing
no strife and no worries.

All profit and no risk.

That's the mentality
of our entrepreneurs

even today.

Mother of God!

This is not an isolated event.

Yesterday's casualties,
and others before them,

are victims of the shameful
private speculation

transforming the face of our city
more and more

as it finds allies among
the very men sitting in this room!

What are you driving at?

We want an inquiry board
comprised of every political group

to investigate
real estate speculation.

I wouldn't change a word.

Look what a handsome man.

I�ve grown old
from repeating the same things.

Your hands are so dirty you won't
even let your own commissioner speak.

Our hands are clean!

This scandal threatens
the governing committee,

all of us, the party,
the entire project.

It's election time.
Don't forget that.

Take my advice.
You won't regret it.

Just what are you saying?

What are you getting at?

Let's hear it.

Your company gets
a slap on the wrist,

a few city officials
take early retirement,

and everything
returns to normal.

You know
how these things are resolved.

Let's lay our cards
on the table.

You're telling me
to withdraw my candidacy.

Are you all crazy?

My votes cost me millions.
I got them one by one, door to door.

And when you needed them,
you took them.

Now I should hand them over

to the first idiot
you put in my place?

Sure, when you need Nottola, great.
Otherwise...

it's God bless and good-bye.

But he's still a good investment
as a private citizen,

because the money rolls in...

with no questions asked.

What about that?

Do we sacrifice it
to your political ambitions?

Listen.

When you divvy things up,
you expect me to come begging.

"May I build this high-rise?
May I have this contract?"

I must be building commissioner.
I�m the only one I can trust.

But why?
To get the contracts for the project?

You've already got them!

We've got to win the elections,
get a clear majority.

With all your shenanigans,
we can forget it.

Stick to building!
You're no politician!

We're all hanging by a thread.

I have to be commissioner.

Nottola, a bribe
was enough back then.

Now you need a machine gun!

I stick to the facts.
I build buildings.

De Vita says
he has nothing against them

as long as they're built
as dictated by law.

But the law is made here.

It's true.
The law is made in this hall.

But you take advantage
of your political power

with no concern
for those who elected you.

The billions of lire
in the city's special fund,

which belongs
to all us citizens,

will be used only to legally
stuff your pockets -

Thirty years later,
it's the same old story:

Who makes the laws?
And who pockets the public's money?

THE CHARACTERS AND EVENTS
SHOWN ARE IMAGINARY

THE SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL
CONTEXT IS REAL

Thank you.

For my part, I would start
with the last shots of the film.

I should think one couldn't
conceive of anything worse

than those huge buildings
built in a vacuum.

But the tragic events of these
last few days in Palermo...

MAY 23, 1992 - JUDGE FALCONE,
HIS WIFE, AND THREE GUARDS
ARE KILLED

heighten the tension and dramatic
impact of our meeting here today.

So much so
that it may seem strange

to speak of Naples
while all this is happening in Sicily.

JULY 19, 1992 - JUDGE BORSELLINO
AND FIVE ESCORTS ARE KILLED

But Naples and Palermo
are both ailing cities

in one and the same nation
that's diseased in all its parts.

What has happened to Naples

in the 30 years
since this film was made?

I ask Carlo Fermariello,

who played a leading
opposition figure in the film,

and who's lived here in Naples
these past 30 years.

The world has changed
these past 30 years, and so has Naples.

We once had
a solid productive base here,

a working force
that characterized the entire city.

But now we're in the hands
of the Camorra.

We're constantly on the defensive.

Hope is waning.
The city has turned cynical and violent.

There is little democratic life.
The institutions don't work.

The state is missing in action.

All development
has become parasitical

because Naples consumes
more than it produces.

This explains
the north-south division

that has lately been
jeopardizing our national unity.

That's the present picture.

If, as has been said,
all of Italy is ailing,

the ills are more evident
here in Naples.

What's changed these 30 years
in Naples and elsewhere?
UNIVERSITY RESEARCHER

Thirty years ago, the face
of speculation was recognizable.

You could identify the Nottolas.

They still faced up to
their responsibilities to some extent.

Today, speculation
has corrupted civil life.

The politics of crime
is widespread.

Our culture loses out and is itself lost,
and the city has certainly lost.

What has happened in these years?
Essentially two things.
HISTORIAN

First: A wild, uncontrolled
influx of money into the city.

The city was flooded with money

and abruptly carried out of its
endemic southern backwardness.

Second: Politics is no longer
at the heart of the city.

With the fall of the Left,

political parties have become
mere financial committees,

differing only in name,
indistinguishable one from another.

And yet the city appears vital,
feverish with activity,

charged up
with a perverse modernization.

A living body with bad blood
coursing through its veins,

the blood of fast money,

of diverted public funds

soiled by drugs
and other things.

An ethical decomposition
of the city ensues,

but also social bonding - the city
is more tightly knit than 30 years ago.

In fact, the Camorra is rewriting
our social geography and class structure.

Gone is the middle class.

The city is not only oppressed
by rampant lawlessness,

but also by a swelling
of the poorer class.

Where Achille Lauro couldn't reduce
the city to one big plebeian class,

the Camorra and the new bosses
of the city are doing so.

This is what makes me
pessimistic.

We can no longer identify
the individuals behind this renewal.

I don't agree with the final part.
PRESIDENT, YOUNG INDUSTRIALISTS

Naples wants to be reborn.

There's an entrepreneurial class that
believes in it and wants to invest in it.

So many things lead to development,
which means the creation of wealth,

but you must understand that
this city is recovering socially.

If I help it recover socially,
I can create conditions

for new industry.

So this is our reasoning.

We're against special
intervention and assistance.

Naples doesn't want handouts, because
it wants to join the rest of Europe.

This city must think to building its future.
PRESIDENT - MANUFACTURERS'
ASSOCIATION

It has enormous potential.

It has a great university

and an excellent productive base.

This city builds airplanes

trains, cars,

and electronics.

It has centers
of artistic creativity,

and it has another
important resource: Its youth.

The young people of Naples
are an asset, not a problem.

If we can harness
all this potential -

if we Neapolitans,
and nobody else,

can all work together
in this direction,

toward this great task
of recreating Naples.

I think it's our institutions
that have failed to contribute

to developing the south,
and Naples in particular.

The issue we must confront,
among many others,
SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE

is the need to reclaim
our very identity.

And our identity here in Naples
has a concrete shape:

That of the city's historic center.

It's a center of great richness,

with a wealth of monuments
and artistic and historical treasures

that need not envy
those of either Rome or Paris.

And it's a fact worth noting

that 250,000 people live there.

These 250,000 inhabitants,
and this legacy

of churches, palaces,
buildings, and monuments,

must regain their rightful dignity.

Among the projects
for the future of this city,

I�m sure everyone agrees

on the need to reclaim
and intelligently restore this legacy

rather than destroy it.

The many reasons for this
are not just cultural -

let's even place those last -

but have to do
with economic development.

I�d like to say something

about the growth
of the greater metropolitan area
SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE

over the last 30 years.

Naples has become
a megalopolis

of 31/2 million inhabitants.

The population
encompassed in this area

rivals that of cities
such as Trieste, Venice,

Florence, Bologna,

Bari, Messina and Catania

all combined.

Yet local authorities
have not initiated

any long-range planning
for this metropolitan area.

More than 700,000 people
live below Mount Vesuvius,

a population the size
of Bologna and Salerno together.

Exploitation here

has proceeded with arrogance
and cynicism,
SCHOOL OF SCIENCE

with no respect for the considerable
natural riches and resources

of the Neapolitan area.

Witness to this fact
are the one million inhabitants

of those zones
at high geological risk -

paraseismic, seismic, volcanic,
and hydrogeological-

and the annual pumping
from this area's substrata

of 400 million
cubic meters of water,

as well as the almost
10 million cubic meters of sewer water

that leaks into the substrata
and is used as potable water.

Naples has the densest population
of any city in Italy:
SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE

11,000 people
per square kilometer,

five times that of Rome,
twice that of Hong Kong.

When this film was shot
30 years ago,

Naples had
a population of 700,000.

Now it's 1.5 million,
more than double.

In this climate,
projects are carried out

that are lethal for the city.

The historic center
has been gutted.

Naples now has 31,000
vacant housing units,

or 150,000 vacant rooms.

Naples doesn't need
a single additional housing unit.

We need green space,
facilities, and services.

We need to reduce congestion
and maintain the existing territory.

Naples has a population of 1.5 million,
DIRECTOR, CAMORRA EXPERT

but 386,000
are unemployed.

That's not true.
Everyone works.

They work
in Camorra-run businesses.

The 120 clans identified in Naples
are 120 companies

that take in 8 trillion lire a year

and employ
at least 400,000 people.

Not even FIAT
has this employment capacity.

Drug dealing has turned
the Camorra into an industry.

There are 216 known
distribution points in the city,

one every 400 meters.

There are
30,000 heroin addicts.

Each spends 150,000 lire a day.

The Camorra takes in
41/2 billion lire a day,

135 billion a month,

1.6 trillion a year
on heroin traffic alone.

If you add cocaine
and other drugs,

the figure is 3 trillion.

This torrent of money flows
into the economy of the city,

contaminating everything,
the entire social structure,

and corrupting the civic conscience
of the Neapolitans.

Drugs are the principal source
of income for organized crime,
SCHOOL OF LAW

or, as I see it,
the prohibition of drugs is.

Simply because certain substances
are declared illegal,

their commerce generates
the dizzying profits just mentioned.

It's time we experiment
with new ways

to deprive organized crime
of its principal source of income.

I believe there's
only one way -

that suggested
by the European Parliament -

moving beyond outlawing drugs

and legalizing them instead.

I would like
to discuss juvenile crime.
DIRECTOR, JUVENILE CENTER

Delinquent Naples...

In Naples, 1,000 children
are presently in reformatories.

There are 60,000 children
between 12 to 18

who commit burglary, who steal,
who snatch purses

and act as runners
for the Camorra.

For these youths
and all those youths

who I believe are
the future salvation of Naples,

I propose three solutions:

First, we must see
that all children attend school.

We must revitalize
our professional training programs

so that the youth of Naples
can learn trades

other than those offered
by the Camorra,

and we must unmask
and denounce

all the slackers and good-for-nothings
employed in city offices.

The strong ties between business,

politics and the Camorra
JUDGE

makes the judiciary's task
much more difficult.

Yet in recent years, courts in Naples
have shown they won't play

the subordinate role
they played in the '50s and '60s.

This change in attitude
has had two results:

First, they've carried out more
hard-hitting investigations

of state bureaucrats.

Second, attempts to interfere
with judicial authority have increased.

Judge De Chiara is right.
SCHOOL OF LITERATURE
AND PHILOSOPHY

The situation here is different
than in Milan.

It's harder to get
at the truth here

because of the front created
by politics, industry, and the Camorra.

Even the structure of criminality
is different here.

We have, of course,
industrialists who offer bribes,

as well as Camorra-controlled
enterprises,

with their subcontractors,
the cement racket, etc.

And now we have
the new figure

of the politician-entrepreneur

who sets himself up
through relatives, friends,

partners and front men,

forming companies
that corner the major contracts

received as public commissions
for billions and trillions of lire.

Even the real estate market

is no longer controlled
by private speculators

but by state-subsidized
corporations

invariably in the hands
of politicians.

Real estate speculation
is automatically focused

on their vast land holdings.

It's been 50 years,
not 30, Rosi,

that a principle has been
taking shape in this city:

No more urban development

infringing on the historic center
and seafront

but only along an axis
northeast of the city.

And yet for 50 years
we've seen the exact opposite,

which is why we keep talking
about decentralization.

And still the urban projects under
discussion even these last two years

once again concern
the historic center and seafront,

properties
of now inactive industries.

And this happens, my friends,

with the staunch support
of certain professors

in this very School of Architecture.

We're no longer in Italy here,
or even Europe,

but in the Middle East.

We must stop these individuals
or there is no hope for Naples.

I agree with Professor Craveri.

The most speculative projects in the last
10 years have issued from this university:
ARCHITECT

urbanizing the industrial areas
and gutting the historic center.

But alternative projects defending
the environment have come forth as well.

And something else: 30 years ago,
builders had the arrogance

to decide the city's future,
but now it's the Camorra.

It's our duty in this school
to educate generations of experts

who can determine how best
to respond to social needs.

We'll conclude our meeting
by hearing from Professor Zevi.

Very well.
I�ll try to wrap things up

on as explosive and controversial
a note as possible.

As usual.

I propose establishing at least two -
though there's a dozen more -

at least two criteria
for the future of Naples.

First, no more checkerboards.

No more of this absurd
and criminal system

of slicing up the land
at right angles.

Every city has its problems
with this checkerboard system,

but none with the same
maniacal intensity as Naples.

It doesn't even exist in Rome.

But it's existed in Naples
from ancient times until today.

So I say no
to military checkerboards

according to the Roman
military system of camps.

No to "oligarchic checkerboards. "

No to "Jesuit checkerboards. "

No to Nazi-Stalinist-Fascist
checkerboards.

Secondly, no to symmetry.

Symmetry is the derelict
instrument and symbol

of the desire
to suppress diversity.

Here's one thing.
Here's another.

They fit them together
since they're symmetrical.

If I�m the element of diversity,
where does that leave me?

To conclude
and get to my point:

Naples needs a courageous act
of inventiveness and imagination,

something that's risky
to even think about.

If Naples is able to come up
with a revolutionary approach

to address the temporary
and ineffective solutions

implemented
over the last 50 years,

then I�m certain the city
will have a brilliant future.

- What do you mean, no?
- I�m tired. I�ve had it.

Lazybones.

If he'd mentioned Mount Vesuvius,
I wouldn't have worn these shoes.

All these stones.
- Just think if it came to life again.

Yeah, boom! Just like that.

It's dormant now,
but not forever, they say.

Who says?

- The experts.
- Come on.

People don't think about it.
That's how they are.

Imagine having
to evacuate 700,000 people!

Bite your tongue!

Civil defense will take over,
which around here means San Gennaro.

Come on, kids.

Coming!

I�ll now demonstrate
an experiment

that consists
of simulating an earthquake

and registering it with the oldest
instrument of its kind in the world:

The electromagnetic seismograph
of Luigi Palmieri

built here in Naples in 1856.

During an earthquake,
even the slightest movement

sets the pendulums swaying.

At the same time,
a clock stops,

a bell starts ringing,

and two pencils record
the pendulums' movements.

But Vesuvius is dormant.

- Unfortunately.
- Unfortunately?

When a volcano
is inactive for long periods,

people lose
their historical memory.

So when it reawakens,
they're unprepared.

The problem here is that the freeway
is the only escape route.

Imagine what could happen

if something's not done
immediately.

Excuse me, but how long now
has Vesuvius "behaved"?

Well, from 1694 to 1944.

But it hasn't exactly "behaved. "

There have been many eruptions,

but fortunately none of great note.

And Pompeii?

That eruption was exceptional,
and very strong,

explosive.

As the people tried to flee,

they were killed by the fumes.

Then the ash covered them
in their last moment of life,

exactly as we find them today.

"Ashes fell on the ships,

hotter and denser
the further the ships advanced,

as did black stones,
burned and cracked by the fire.

The shallow waters
and the rockfalls from the mountains

cut off access to the coast.

At the same time,
from many points on Vesuvius,

fires blazed with high flames,

their incandescence heightened
by the darkness of the night. "

- How long did it last?
- 72 minutes.

Charles was so taken
with the place

that he immediately ordered
a royal villa to be built on the site.

To those who pointed out the menace
of nearby Vesuvius, he replied,

"I�m sure the Lord, the Virgin Mary
and San Gennaro have thought of that."

Like I said earlier.

Naples without San Gennaro
is nothing!

But San Gennaro without Naples
is nothing either!

I hope that thing will protect us
from the traffic!

Go, go!

Blow your horn.

Come on.
Weave your way through,

or you'll never get
anywhere in Naples.

Watch out!
Can't you see they're crowding you!

Where do you think you are?

Oslo? Stockholm?

You're on the Golden Mile,
Torre del Greco and Portici.

Keep your wits about you.

Look up here to the right,
through this gate.

These were all seafront villas.

But in this state of decay,
it's all thrown together.

Don't you see that
that's true of all Naples?

You need a keen eye.

How many of them are there?

Picture the coastline
dotted with villas.

There were 122 in all,

all of them beautiful.

Thus "the Golden Mile. "

Imagine the splendor.

You need some imagination!

Strange, but I feel at ease
in all this bedlam.

What did you say?

I feel at home
in all this bedlam.

But don't tell anyone I said that.

It must be the vivacity
of the people.

Yeah, like bacteria swimming
in their culture.

What's so funny?

Look where you're going.

This is where
Enrico de Nicola lived,

first president
of the Italian republic.

To give you an idea,

even as president he'd have his old coat
redone by turning it inside out.

I knew his tailor. He told me.
- Ancient history.

Not really.
Just 40 years ago.

He used public transport
and paid for his own train tickets.

A man of uncompromising honesty.

Don't be so smart.

What a twit!

Professor Zevi called from Rome, sir.
He'll call again.

Hello. Room 445.

Hello. Ah, Bruno.

No, Bruno.
You absolutely must come.

I�ll take up
very little of your time.

Thanks.

Here we have
a series of packing crates.

Crates of green glass,

beige glass,

transparent glass,
and even cement crates.

Packing crates everywhere.
Why?

Because everything's fashioned
after the checkerboard.

Instead of letting the city
blossom in conformity with its needs,

they preordain the city,
lay it out in advance.

Then, on this checkerboard
configuration,

they place these bulky shapes,
these packing crates.

But all that is secondary.
What's primary?

I�d like to know-
since opinions vary so much -

what is the hydrogeological
situation of the land?

Do the waters of Vesuvius
really flow under here?
ARCHITECT

Is it true that
we're on a floodplain?

Is this, in essence, marshland?

If you're building skyscrapers,
you're either in New York or Venice.

In New York, on rock -
great, you can build.

In Venice, you'd better not.

On this spot, frankly, I don't know.

But I�d like to know!

The financial district
must have its outline,

its dimension, its limit,
its boundary.

This can be done
only by creating green space

to the east
to delimit the city.

We've seen our original objectives
turned on their head.
ARCHITECT

The financial district

should have developed
along the industrial axis,

thus reducing congestion
by creating offshoot activities.

But the opposite took place.

The interests concentrated here
have led to uncontrolled building,

transforming a city
that was once linear

into a city centered
around a sort of cul de sac,

bounded by a prison,
a cemetery and a train station.

The new courthouse.

It burned down
before it was even finished.
JULY 30, 1990

Thirty-two stories high,
the city's second tallest skyscraper.

A short circuit was ruled out
as the cause,

and the possibility of arson
is now being considered.

Mr. Rosi, you made the best film ever
about this city: The Gold of Naples.

- That was De Sica.
- That wasn't you?

Sorry.

Oh, well. De Sica, Rosi -
it's still Naples!

Have some fruit!

You're interested in Naples?

The ancient city center
was the largest in Europe.

This is an ancient Roman road,
the Decumanus.

It crossed the entire city,
from one end to the other.

This palazzo was built
in the fifteenth century:

The Palazzo del Panormita.

You work in television?

You've got a camera.
Get a shot of this.

Look at this 15th-century building.
They've ruined it.

Mr. Rosi, you've been here
since this morning.

Are you shooting a movie?
I�m at your service.

Still got film fever, eh?

There's the statue of the Nile.

And there's the Decumanus.

Hey, I�m no tourist.

The church of San Gregorio Armeno.
Beautiful, huh?

The Greeks were
always coming to Naples.

I had a motorcycle
20 years ago.

The cops were always after me.
I was just a kid.

I�d dare them to catch me
in the Spagnoli district.

I�d ride through at full blast.
They called me "Crazy Agostino. "

When they'd show up,
it was vroom!

Quiet!

It was a real Neapolitan carousel
with me and the police.

And they never caught me
even once!

These two columns here were found
underneath where we're standing.

There was a theater too.

Nero would come to sing here
2,000 years ago.

He liked Naples.
The Neapolitans always applauded him.

There are streets below us.
It's all hollow down there.

They found streets 60 meters wide.
There were shops too.

Those shops of 2,000 years ago

still exist today.

Restorers, sculptors.

This statue here
of San Caetano

has been here
for hundreds of years.

FROM THE TV PROGRAM
SAMARCANDA

- What does a killer earn?
- Five million lire.

Is that always the fee?

Five million for a big shot,
somebody important.

It can come down
to 300,000 lire for a -

A nobody.

- The police came and arrested-
- Two of my friends.

For pot?

They didn't have pot.

Naples is loaded with pot,
cocaine, and other stuff.

- You work?
- There isn't any work.

- So you steal?
- Yeah.

For money.

- What's a stolen motorbike worth?
- 100,000 lire.

- And brand-new it costs -
- 1,700,000 lire.

Not drugs. Hashish.

- That's not drugs?
- No, it's smoke.

You saw them.
Were there any scales?

Just one scale.

And they found
three grams of cocaine,

100 grams of hashish,

and a little packet of glucose.

You plan to go on
living this way?

Yes, I like it.

Would you kill for the Camorra?

I don't know.
Many of us already do.

Would you be willing
to kill for a heroin fix?

May we see those?

See this pastry dough?

That becomes
the babas au rhum you're eating.

Good, huh?

And these are
Proust's madeleines.

The bakeries here
were once called boulangeries.

The signs on some older shops
still say that.

A woman who did ironing
was called a repasseuse.

The French, the Spanish -
they all left something behind.

For 30 years he fought

against crime and the Mafia,
ILLUSTRIOUS CORPSES, 1975

and the Mafia killed him!

You are the Mafia!

Never before
had they dared to go so far.

It's the first time
they've killed

a prosecutor of the republic!

Mafioso!

A heinous crime that threatens
our entire judicial system!

An affront
to the power of the state!

"Giovanni Antonello Petrucci,

beheaded in 1486 for participating
in the conspiracy of the barons.

Here he lies,
his head in his arms. "

Isabella of Aragon,

daughter of Alfonso II,
and duchess of Milan.

- Joan of Aragon -
- Who? Joan the Depraved?

No, she was from Anjou.

Ferdinando Francesco d'Avalos,

hero of the Battle of Pavia.

And then there's Alfonso I.

The moment he died, his heart
was carried off to Spain in a jar.

His body followed
a few years later.

Hello.

Nice church bells.

You call those bells?

They're electric.

Bells are what I played,
pulling on ropes.

I played Bach on those bells!

"He was blond, handsome,
and gentle in appearance.

In 1268, Carlos I of Anjou
ordered the beheading

of Conradin of Swabia,
Frederick of Baden,

and seven
of their companions.

From then on,
the site was used for executions.

On the obelisk fountain
that adorns the square,

the severed heads
were displayed. "

Pasquale,
get a detail of this.

Then a shot of the garland.

And this here.

Who would think to put apartment
buildings on a square like this?

Look, they were ugly
even back then.

It says here that laws forbade
construction outside the city walls

for safety reasons,

and that certain buildings
were already over five stories.

"Before the plague of 1656,

the population of Naples
numbered 450,000.

The plague reduced it
to 270,000.

Repeated famines

caused hordes of peasants

to flee the countryside

and crowd around
the gates of the city,

drawn to this vast den
where man and beast

vied for food
and even for air itself.

'In Naples, the plebs
are more plebeian than elsewhere, '

said Montesquieu, calling them
'the savages of Europe. "'

Are the plebs, then,

at the heart of the city's ills?
SOCIOLOGIST

No, they're the result of this city's ills.
HISTORIAN

These problems took the form
we know even today in the 16th century,

when Naples became
the administrative capital

and focal point
of the entire south.

This created enormous
demographic congestion

when the masses

of the southern countryside
converged on the city.

This same plebeian class

exists to some degree
even today.

It was their presence

that inspired
the expressive yet dramatic

16th-century description
of Naples:

"A paradise inhabited by devils"-
that is, the plebs.

But without this pathological drive
for Naples to be the capital,

we wouldn't have had the plebs,

nor would the chronic ailments
have begun then

whose consequences
are still felt today.

"Naples lost,
at the executioner's hand,

almost all its important leaders. "

That's a quote from Stendhal.

These Jacobins were the first advocates
INSTITUTE FOR
PHILOSOPHICAL STUDIES

of a common political sentiment:
That of Italian nationality.

They were not only Neapolitans.

They came from Puglia, Calabria,

Basilicata,
from all of Campania.

And they weren't
just bourgeois intellectuals.

Many were also
of the Neapolitan nobility.

There were also 30 bishops,

as Vincenzo Cuoco noted

in his historical essay
on the revolution of 1799.

This is the well-known portrait
of Luisa Sanfelice,

martyred during
the revolution of '99.

Francesco Mario Pagano, philosopher
and follower of Vico and Filangieri.

Eleonora Pimentel Fonseca,

editor of the Neapolitan Monitor,
a republican journal.

Vincenzo Cuoco,

Domenico Cirillo,

and Gennaro Serra of Cassano,

son of the lords of this palazzo,

who was, at 25 years of age,
decapitated on the Piazza Mercato.

The parents
of Gennaro of Cassano

begged the king for mercy,

but the vendetta of the monarchy
was implacable.

Before that, carriages
headed for the palace

would always pass
through that carriage door.

From that day on,

it remained barred
out of contempt for the monarchy.

Naples, Caserta, Salerno,
Avellino, Potenza, Bari, Matera:

These are the areas of southern Italy
struck by the earthquake.

The heaviest losses occurred in Naples,
Salerno, Avellino and Potenza.

Ninety-seven towns were hit,
to one degree or another, by the quake.

Some suffered little, while others
reported casualties and vast destruction.

So far, 1,012 bodies have been
extracted from the rubble.

The force of this quake -

10� on the Mercalli scale -

is overwhelming,

more devastating than the quake
that hit the northern region of Friuli.

"For the first time,

all of Italy could watch,
thanks to television,

how two regions
coped with a similar problem,

and how each obtained and spent funds
allotted for their reconstruction.

Was it really feasible
that the citizens of a northern region

as prosperous
and hard-working as Lombardy

would agree to spend
their money

to bolster the coffers
of the Neapolitan Camorra

and support political bribes
and environmental destruction?"

Thus ambassador and essayist
Sergio Romano

explained recent
separatist tendencies in Italy

using the example
of the two earthquakes.

"Official data seem to indicate

that the earthquake lasted
not several days but years.

The number of towns damaged

has gradually risen
from 389 in 1980 to 687,

and they continue to ask for
and receive emergency funds.

A government estimate in 1988
calculated the cost at 40 trillion lire.

Other more reliable estimates
that include all forms of funding

place the figure at 60 trillion. "

Giorgio Bocca,
The Disunity of Italy.

Naples is a parasitical city, granted.
ECONOMIST

But it was also
a productive city of industry.

Over the last 50 years, its industrial
fiber has gradually been destroyed.

This has given enormous power
to the local ruling class.

"A corrupt ruling class,"
everyone says.

Agreed.

Rotten to the core in every one
of its political components.

Then what sustains
this governing political class

made up of men
who exercise their power

not just locally
but nationally?

It's easy to say elections in Italy
are free and democratic.

Not so!

Here in Naples,
votes are strictly controlled

through favors,

through the Camorra,

through tenuous jobs
and black market labor.

This is the main pillar
of local power.

There is, however, another,
more solid buttress.

It's the external support -
hard as it is to believe -

that these Neapolitan
politicians receive

from major industries
and from national banking interests.

But it's true,
because these politicians

dispose of the trillions of lire
in taxpayers' money

that the national industries receive
when they undertake,

or merely promise to undertake,
investments in the south.

What can be done?

I don't believe
in moralistic sermons

nor in administrative controls,

because more laws are broken
than are enforced.

I believe only
in social constraints.

Naples is in decline
because it no longer has

a working class
that's stable and fully employed

and therefore socially
and politically independent.

Let's get that back.

There you go.

Want a hand? No?

See these low-lying reefs?

We call them chiane.

I know every one of the chiane
along this part of the coast.

I spent my childhood here.

A happy childhood.

You can say that again:
A happy childhood.

See all the palm trees
in this villa?

It's a beautiful garden.

A baron lived here
who often traveled to Africa.

A strange type
who slept on a boat

or in an unusual chalet
at the edge of the garden here.

Go take a look.
Behind those trees.

What's so unusual here
that's worth looking at?

Memory embellishes things.
It's been many years.

Franco!

Franco, wait up!

Over here! Pull it up!

- Quick, pull it up!
- Careful, or they'll squiggle away!

Don't let 'em get away!

Lots of sardines and octopus!
Get 'em!

Look how big they are!

The fishermen!
Hurry! Let's go!

Hey, you little thieves!
You're stealing everything!

Quiet! Let's hide up here.

Wait a minute.
I�ll see if the fishermen are coming.

Look at all the airplanes!

They're gonna bomb!

Imagine all the fish
that'll be floating after the bombing!

Mullet, walleye, sea bass -
and we can't get them!

They're bombing us,
and he's worried about fish!

Look!

You cold?

My boyfriend'll kill me
if he sees me with an American.

Don't worry. Once these guys
are drunk, they can't do anything.

Meat and vegetable stew!

We were too understanding
in Sicily, Genovese.

True, true.

The colonel wants
everyone's cooperation

to end this shameful black market.

Strict rationing will ensure

a fair distribution
of American aid to the people of Italy.

Long live America!
Long live Italy!

Start playing.

How do you explain the fact

that all these Mafia bosses,

these authentic gangsters,

were issued regular passports

and permits for weapons?

How is it that Italian police files
describe them as

"persons of irreprehensible
political and moral conduct"?

Why don't you ask your immigration
Service and Department of Justice?

These gangsters,
these mafiosi -

who sent them to Italy?

You Americans!
And by the hundreds!

You called them
"undesirable elements. "

They landed in Sicily
right behind the Allied forces.

Then they moved
up the peninsula from Naples

to Milan and Genoa,

following your army.

Ask your generals why they appointed
as mayors of the liberated cities

men like Calogero Vizzini
and Genco Russo,

men known and feared
as Mafia bosses.

Ask Colonel Poletti why,
as military governor of Naples,

he chose as his collaborator
his right-hand man, Vito Genovese.

You knew very well
he was a renowned criminal boss!

A fleet of fishing boats,
cargo ships, and yachts

fitted out in Marseilles
and Sicily

sail the Mediterranean

from Tangiers to Beirut,

from Malta to Genoa and Trieste,

at the orders of a Mafia boss,

a quiet man with sad eyes

who lives undisturbed in Naples:

Lucky Luciano.

In just a few years,
this man created

the largest international criminal
organization that has ever existed.

Siragusa's like you.
He talks like you and acts like you.

You and he have cost us a lot of sleep
here in Italy these ten years.

Yeah, Siragusa's
a Sicilian like me.

Just like

the chief prosecutor in Palermo...

Scaglione.

And like the chief of police.

All Sicilians,

and I, just like them,

live quietly,
without bothering anyone.

Only Siragusa, the mad dog,
gets these funny ideas!

He was right
about the Canepa brothers.

We caught them red-handed.

We'll arrest
their contacts in Spain too.

And sooner or later
we'll get you too.

It's all a frame-up by Siragusa.

The Canepa brothers
were arrested three months before.

But then the judge
in Rome let them go.

I have nothing to do with that.

But your partner,
Antonino Sorci, does.

We have the documents.

They had a holding company
together in Rome.

You need proof.

To form a company,
you need a notary.

We found him.

The same one you used
when you bought the Orleans Park

together with Sorci and Mancino.

Is it a crime to buy a little land?

Over 160,000 square meters,

all with building permits
from the city of Palermo.

If the city issues permits,
it means it's legal.

Even the university
bought into that land,

and even some
of your government ministers.

Things are changing,
Charlie Lucky.

If you're counting on political protection,
you're fooling yourself.

Political protection?

I don't even know
the traffic chief here in Naples.

In America I played politics,

but face-to-face
with President Roosevelt.

In America...

you mentioned an address once...

and the police found
a case of heroin.

I told them what I knew.

Today I know nothing.

You can talk to me.

I have my own ideas about you,

and they're different
from Siragusa's.

It's in your interests.

It's in your interests,
for your career.

Your interests!

And those of Siragusa,
the generals, the chief of police.

It's in politicians' interests too

to distract the people,

who don't know anything
and never will.

In politics,
when it serves your purpose,

you deal with hoods
and what you call mafiosi.

Sorry, but I can't be of help.

This is another of those
many moments in the history of Naples
SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE

when everyone's talking
about this city

as if something's going to happen,
but nothing ever does.

The only constant
is the paralysis

that characterizes life in Naples
and its transformation.

And should one hint
at doing something

or actually attempt
to tackle these problems,

he's immediately attacked

by all those who benefit
from the status quo.

On the one hand, we have...

Are you going to tell me
what you're doing in Naples?

I�m interested in what they have to say.
Did you forget I�m Neapolitan?

Come on. Your assistants
are here with a video camera.

I�m taking a few notes.

I might do a television film,
a sort of "Neapolitan diary. "

You think I can convince people that
Naples is a dynamic city that mustn't die,

and that if Italy gives up here,
it'll give up everywhere?

- May I quote you?
- If you like.

There's Carlo Fermariello.
Let's listen.

...billions above and beyond the monies
already allotted and never spent.

But let it be understood
that as citizens of Naples,

we must safeguard ourselves
before all Italy.

We must safeguard ourselves
by establishing and insisting

on respect for laws
so rigid, so inexorable,

as to finally overcome the old, justified
prejudice that exists in our regard.

What's going on?

The conference hall is dark too.
Someone go see what's going on.

- Are there no emergency lights?
- It's a technical problem.

It can't be fixed tonight.
This happens even in New York.

- When will it be fixed?
- I don't know.

Now we all go for pizza!