While at some other A-grade festivals (Cannes to be precise) consider serials and streaming as the curse of cinema, at the Berlinale they acknowledge the aesthetic and narrative advances serialized formats have undergone for some time in the 21st century. Following the creation of the Berlinale TV Series section in 2015, they are also presenting an award for the most outstanding series from this year. The first person to be featured with this Berlinale Series Award, ‘Good mothers’ (Disney+Wednesday, day 5)The Italian-British mini-series with at least two first episodes, all of which we can see in this newspaper, definitely deserves recognition and attention.
His name will be addressed to those who read the book of the same name: Alex Perry about (posted here by Ariel in 2019) The true story of three women born into the clans of the powerful criminal organization ‘Ndrangheta’, headquartered in Calabria.. Women who are forced to pretend to be little more than good mothers, but who have their own idea of what it means to be a mother and who dare to break ‘omertà, the law of silence, in an effort to be consistent with themselves.
three mothers
Referring to Perry’s investigation, the screenwriter said, Stephen Butchard (“The Last Kingdom”, “Baghdad Central”) dramatizes the lives of several brave women and the dire consequences of their step forward. Gaia Girace (Lila in ‘My Super Friend’) leads the action as Denise Cosco, Lea Garofalo’s daughter (Micaela Ramazzotti), a woman who once testified against her gangster husband and spent seven years building safe havens for herself and her sensitive daughter. Depressed for a moment, Lea and Denise go to Milan, believing that they will make peace with Carlo Cosco (Francesco Collella), the former culprit of her nightmares, but her mother doesn’t come back from a supposedly romantic dinner.
According to prosecutor Anna Colace (played by barbara chichiarelliKnown as the ‘Livia of Suburra), the road to the defeat of the ‘Ndrangheta’ is through a rapprochement with their underrated women, who nonetheless act as heralds, facilitators or servants of the Mafia. This final punishment is what can facilitate multiple confessions. In the series, Giuseppina Pesce (Valentina BelleThe Pesce clan chief’s daughter is psychologically and physically beaten because she thinks that raising the tribute price by 5% will backfire. And to her friend Concetta Cacciola (Simona Distefano), not being able to freely enjoy their femininity, not showing their beauty, not being able to paint their lips.
a different perspective
“Good mothers” is an opportunity to rediscover a recognizable universe not rarely seen in fiction (but also on television, including more or less recent examples such as “Gomorrah”, “Suburra” or “Romanzo the criminal”). her point of view is not so conventional: feminine and feminist. In statements collected by assistant director ‘Drama Quarterly’ Elisa Amoruso “Of course, as an Italian, I knew ‘Ndrangheta’ and these women’s story because they knew very well. But the story wasn’t told from their point of view, so it had to be told.”
The other director of the series is Julian Jarrold, the British television veteran to whom we owe innovative adaptations of ‘Great Expectations’ and ‘Crime and Punishment’ or part of the overwhelming ‘true crime’ trio ‘Red Riding’. Here, she sacrifices a little of her usual formalism to convey the claustrophobia of women who seem to be living in prison even though they don’t go to jail as their husbands usually do. The series is difficult to watch, but recommended.