a civilian heroine with a passion for politics – Corriere.it

Tina Anselmi is a 16-year-old student when, in 1944 in Bassano, together with a group of classmates, she finds herself in front of 31 men hanged by the Germans. An atrocious and at the same time decisive vision because that girl, who like everyone at her age cultivates the dreams of adolescence, suddenly assumes an adult conscience: she understands that, to change that world of horrors, one cannot limit oneself to looking, it is necessary to act.

These are the first images of the TV-film Tina Anselmi. A life for democracy, produced by Angelo Barbagallo, broadcast on Rai 1 in prime time on 25 April. Starring Sarah Felberbaum, directed by Luciano Manuzzi, based on the story of the writer Anna Vinci and with the screenplay by Monica Zappelli. “Another important female figure, a civilian heroine who is part of the set of special women to whom we are dedicating space – says the director of Rai Fiction Maria Pia Ammirati – I had the opportunity to meet her when I was a journalist and I immediately understood her political ability to reach out to people: a mix of empathy and generosity, maintaining the rigor that came from her Castelfranco Veneto».

Partisan, stubborn trade unionist in defense of female workers and above all the first woman Minister of Labor in Italy in 1976, then President of the commission of inquiry into the P2 Masonic lodge. “If you want to change the world, you have to be there,” said Anselmi, measuring himself against a political world crowded with men. A character under certain profiles also uncomfortable. «For Tina it was important that the idea become action – intervenes Vinci, author of two books on Anselmi, of whom she was a friend – she hated betrayals, she could not stand people who broke their word. the best thing about Tina is that she kept her being bossy and naughty, disciplined and rebellious … Italy owes a great debt to this woman who, perhaps not surprisingly, was called a “loose cannon”».

In the cast also Gaetano Aronico (Aldo Moro), Enrico Mutti (Benigno Zaccagnini), Antonio Piovanelli (Sandro Pertini) and Sara D’Amario is Nilde Iotti. «It was Iotti, a communist, who proposed to Tina to preside over the P2 Commission – Vinci reveals – Furthermore, when she signed the law on abortion, even if she did not agree, she met many members of the clergy who asked her not to sign. But she replied that she was a woman of democracy. And after everything she did to her, the Christian Democrats took her historic seat away from her. You accepted the choice of the party, but you suffered from it in silence ».

Actress Sarah Felberbaum begins excited: «I never thought I could play Tina Anselmi. I read and studied a lot, because I immediately felt the responsibility of this role. This film can teach the new generations that the battle for equality has been going on for many years and now is not the time to stop. Also, it’s the first time I’ve been entrusted with an important character, where I can show so much of myself, without it having anything to do with physical appearance. The hardest scene? The story around the kidnapping of Moro».