In the streets of Sicily, Letizia Battaglia aimed her camera straight into the heart of the Mafia that surrounded her and began to shoot. The striking photos she took document the rule of the Cosa Nostra, the Sicilian Mafia, and define her career.
Battaglia is one of the most unique people I’ve ever come across. She is now 84-years old with shocking, fuscia hair. She seems to have boundless energy and enthusiasm for life. She is an outspoken political activist who takes her life into her own hands as she speaks out against government corruption and continues to photograph the Mafia. She’s also a - well, there isn’t a correct term for this - she’s a female Casanova. She’s not a femme fatale. She’s just an attractive woman who is very comfortable with her sexuality and attracts men with her beauty, aura of charm and mystery. It’s refreshing.
As a young woman, Battaglia was so stunningly beautiful she stopped men in their tracks on the street. She married at age 16, had children, and then was institutionalized in Switzerland for depression. When she came back home to Sicily, she realized she needed something more than domesticity to fill her life. Breaking with tradition, she devoted herself to photography and got herself hired as a photojournalist with a local newspaper.
Battaglia is absolutely defiant with her camera lens. Putting herself in danger she fearlessly captures the weddings, funerals, and brutal murders of men, women and children of and by the Italian Mafia who notoriously don’t like to be photographed. She tells the story of her hometown and country through pictures, and gives a voice to the community she loves and that has been forced into silence with violence and fear.
Director Kim Longinotto stunningly weaves together Battaglia’s heart-wrenching photographs, rare archival film, and candid conversations with Battaglia herself to create an audacious documentary. She brings grit, texture, and critical new perspective to Battaglia’s work and dismantles the romantic narrative of the Sicilian Mafia from the perspective of someone who had lived inside it.
Once again here at Sundance 2019 we are seeing another documentary about the abuse of power, in this case the oppressive power the Mafia imposes over the people of Sicily, and the power of one photographer’s images to show these men for who they truly are. This was a great film, and it was really awesome and inspiring to meet Battaglia and hear firsthand her accounts at the talk back.
“Shooting the Mafia”
Salt Lake Library
Sunday, January 27
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