Viva Zapatero On DVD

An outrageously funny and revealing documentary by Italian satirist and comedienne Sabina Guzzanti also starring Rory Bremner, about the true meaning of satire and Italian ex-prime minister Silvio Berlusconi and his government’s misconception of it.

In 2003 Berlusconi censored then later canceled Guzzanti’s popular late night show, RAIot, as it openly criticised the Berlusconi media empire. After this, Guzzanti generated a mini-revolution, shedding light on the un-European censorship laws imposed on the country’s freedom of speech.

“I decided to make this documentary when the Judge established that the lawsuit brought against “Raiot” was without any basis.

The documentary was shot during the spare time I had available on a national tour. The ideas became clearer whilst I was conducting the interviews, which developed further as the consummate ability of the interviewees’ communicative skills revealing their incisive and intelligent viewpoints became apparent.

What fascinated me more during this project was to witness directly the transformation of a democracy in something else. My aim, leaving apart the historical and political reasoning process, was to show how the perception of events gradually changed in the eyes of ordinary people. Which were the mechanisms that made this alteration possible?

The idea of interviewing fellow satirists, that are also doing political satire on television abroad, came after a while and I must say that it was a decisive turning point in the making of this film. It was important to verify that these restrictions of freedom, were a concern for Italy only. There has been a general tendency everywhere (in Europe) in the last few years, but there is nothing comparable with what has been happening here, in Italy. It has also been important to experiment the concept of “Europe”, to discover if it means something. That there is a sense of concrete belonging, that we have common principles, and that beyond to the monetary union, a humoristic union is also possible.

Above all I must say that thanks to the contribution of satirical colleagues, it is a film on censorship but also and at the same time a film about freedom: how does freedom speak, how is it seen, how does is it feel. Even if we get use to all this, when you meet freedom again, it takes a moment to fall in love again.

I imagine that beyond the many who are deeply concerned about these issues in Italy, many others will feel that they are being attacked by”Viva Zapatero!”. Particularly those who are in a positions of power in Italy, and who constantly attempt to persuade us that we are free and democratic people.

I am sure that any uneasiness caused by this film will be expressed in various ways, that in part I can predict, and in part it could still surprise me.

I really hope that “Viva Zapatero!” will make a significant contribution to the battle for freedom of expression, and that it will help raise the knowledge of how important it is that information remains independent from politics, in the lives of each one of us. In “1984”George Orwell wrote: “Let us say that 2+2 equals 4, and let the rest speak for himself” Authoritarianism is the cause of economic disasters, corruption, depression of a nation. In contrast it is freedom, which is the solution, the only solution to all “evils”. Therefore let us take back that freedom which was ours, and let us take even more of that we had.

Sabina Guzzanti