WTI Magazine #20    2014 Mar, 7
Author : Umberto Mucci      Translation by:

We the Italians is very happy and proud about the Oscar to Paolo Sorrentino's movie, "The Great Beauty". We watched the movie months ago in a theatre here in Rome, and immediately recognized it as the masterpiece the Academy later saw, when they awarded it. It is a movie that brings a lot of emotion, especially for who, like us, is born and raised and still live in this beautiful city of Rome, among us romans, our monuments, deep in the Romanity so magnificently expressed by the movie.

The movie can be appreciated or not, of course. Everybody is entitled to his/her own opinion. We think that it perfectly describes the decadence of some part of the Roman community, and the beautiful of our Capital. We know that not all Romans are like the characters of the movie, bust still, they truly exist, in a part of the people who live in this city. In another article of this issue of our magazine you will be able to read the huge problems of the city: the risk of a default is solid, and a lot of things need to be dramatically changed.

But Rome has also hardworking people, dedicated lovers of its beauty, citizens concerned and passionate about the role of this city, its opportunities, its magnificence. Rome is a great beauty, with great flaws: lazy, sometimes, but full of geniality. Read this week interview, in the magazine, about how much in the US is appreciated what the Ancient Romans gave to America. It's still Rome, we have it in our dna: it's still there.

Unfortunately, today in Italy there's a lot of angry, bitter people, ready to fire against everything Italian, to find the weak spot and scream against pretty much everything happens here, to permanently stay in "complaining mode". This is partly understandable: Italy's in a very bad shape, many people is scared and hurt, some of them depressed and discouraged, we'll need a lot of sacrifice and talent and positivity to raise from this situation, and nobody can ensure that it'll be painless. Actually, it won't: deep inside, all of us know that.

But what is sure 100% is that always complaining doesn't help, and it's a very stupid behavior. There's plenty of Italians who do not want to admit that this Oscar is given to Italy, too: to its courage to show its own flaws, to not hide its own problems, to stop lying and start to deserve the great beauty we have and offer every day. In doing that, and this is why we are writing this here, they lack one information: the love for Italy that comes from the Italian Americans, who without any doubt have shown happiness and pride for this victory, which confirms Italy as the most awarded from the Academy, among the foreign countries.

We the Italians is here also to tell the Italians who live in Italy that, even in this case, they should try to know better and learn a little bit from the Italians in the US, who without bitterness and negativity say that Italy should celebrate this victory. There's absolutely no need to think negative by default, it actually means being part of the problem and not part of the solution.

So, we'll try to do whatever we can to fight this attitude, and in doing so we are glad to have millions and millions of testimonials, in the Italian American community, that Italy deserves to be loved and respected, that we should work hard to improve but without losing our pride of representing and healing our country. We, the Italians, with a great pride for the great beauty with great flaws but a great future.