“Our general”, a due tribute to Dalla Chiesa that almost seems like a docu-fiction-Corriere.it

Even if 50 years have passed since the assassination of Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa, it is not easy to translate the news into a story: fiction has its reasons that reality does not know. For this, for a work as evocative and powerful as Our generala series in eight episodes, co-produced by Rai Fiction and Stand by me (created with the collaboration of the General Command of the Carabinieri), directed by Lucio Pellegrini, the less tortuous path was chosen: the didactic one.

The series is so rich in archival images of the Teche Rai (some artfully created with old cameras) that sometimes one has the feeling of watching a docu-fiction. But perhaps this was the right solution to reconstruct a distressing moment in our country and to pay due homage to those who sacrificed their lives to fight the mafia and terrorism. Dalla Chiesa embodies the struggle between the state and subversion, between the state and an organization that feels stronger than the institutions.

The story begins in 1973when General Dalla Chiesa is transferred from Palermo – where he was engaged in the fight against the Mafia – to Turin where the Red Brigades are starting to claim their first armed propaganda actions: the general is the first to understand the extent of the danger to the democracy and the need to counter it with new investigative means: thus the special anti-terrorism unit was born, at the time not always well seen by the leaders of the Arma.

To tell the story, the young carabiniere Nicola (Antonio Folletto): his off-screen voice intertwines historical events with the familiar ones of the protagonists: it makes a certain impression to follow the actors who play Rita and Nando dalla Chiesa. Sergio Castellitto’s task in trying to restore the spirit that animated the general was not easy: he rightly worked more on his character than on his physiognomy.