Sicily is renowned throughout history for being one of the most ancient geographical crossroads. As a strategic point placed in the middle of the Mediterranean sea, the artistically and culturally multifaceted island has witnessed at least thirteen different colonizations, from Greeks and Etruscans to Arabs and Normans. There is still a plethora left of architectural and linguistic elements to prove it. There used to be a time, as recently as the mid-1970s, when Sicilians themselves were perceived as foreigners.
Poverty and lack of jobs were the main reasons why Southern Italians felt somehow coerced into moving either to other continents like the Americas and Australia or simply to northern Italian and European regions in search of a better quality of life, establishing their own little communities all the while enduring the struggle of being seen as less than by the locals. Older generations still hold the unpleasant memory of signs spread on shops and housing complexes up in northern Italy which clearly stated "Africans, Sicilians, and dogs not welcome”.
Luca Lucchesi perfectly captures a multitude of perspectives and agendas coexisting within such a small environment as Siculiana. He lays bare the shameful overly nationalistic, and exclusionary political attitude of Minister Matteo Salvini. A Black Jesus details the disunity among the indigenous population and refugees, as well as dissension among the locals themselves when faced with both the abundant flux of immigration and the lack of jobs in their small Sicilian coastal town. This pushes a lot of young locals to search for fortune elsewhere, therefore rehashing an ancestral historical cycle.
The director remarkably balances the duality of the population’s viewpoints. This enraging portrayal of the neat division between locals and immigrants is film activism at its very best. Lucchesi’s documentary is a powerful eye-opener for anyone dealing with the ramifications of bigoted thinking and racist behaviors. Highly Recommended.
What subjects or college majors would benefit from the content covered in this film?
Any academic subject that entails either political sciences and/or culture and language studies would benefit from integrating this piece of audiovisual knowledge within the classroom setting.