The movie “Take me to see the night”. Beltrami: spirituality, a central aspect

Rosario Tronnolone – Vatican City

“Take me to see the night …” is the request of a Roma child to a nun who holds him in her arms: he cannot sleep if he does not feel the starry sky and the free wind on him. Lia and Alberto Beltrami choose it as the title for their documentary which is previewed at the Vatican Film Library on the afternoon of Monday 15 November.

The protagonist of the documentary is a woman, Carla, who fifty years ago founded the Italian Gypsy Association Today (AIZO), choosing to share the life of Sinti and Roma communities to really understand them. An extraordinary and concrete woman who for fifty years, with a large group of volunteers, has been meeting the difficulties of Sinti and Roma who live in squatter camps and in situations of greatest hardship. Carla is a consecrated member of the Company of Sant’Orsola, and in 1971 she felt pushed by the desire to go on a mission. For a chance meeting (but we would say providential) with a priest delegated to the Roma and Sinti, she changes her life and makes a choice of total sharing.

The film pays particular attention to the condition of women in Sinti and Roma communities: the testimony of Rebecca, an internationally recognized painter and violinist, without having denied her identity of origin, is significant because it represents the breaking of walls of prejudice and a possible change within their own communities. But perhaps the most incisive aspect of the film is the definition that Carla herself gives of Jesus, when she calls him “revolutionary”: he revolutionized his world through love, and we are all called to bring the revolution of the Gospel into our own. world, however contradictory and hostile it may appear.

To tell the background and the origins of this story is the director herself, Lia Beltrami:

“Take me to see the night” is the story of a people, but also of the extraordinary experience of a woman, Carla: how did you meet her?

Carla has lived for fifty years with Roma and Sinti people in Turin, and fifty years ago she founded the Italian Gypsy Association Today (AIZO), which is all over Italy. I met the association in Trentino, and I was able to appreciate the extraordinary work of this association, and from there I came to meet Carla. She is an extraordinary, concrete woman who, with the many volunteers, walks together with the Roma and Sinti, especially those who live in illegal camps and in situations of greatest discomfort, and try to make a path to build a life for motivate yourself for a life.

It is an experience that for Carla began in 1971: what reasons led her to this choice?

Carla is part of the Compagnia di Sant’Orsola, she is a consecrated woman, but fifty years ago, as a young student, she wanted to volunteer, or perhaps go on a mission. One day he stops to give a ride to a hitchhiker who turns out to be a priest delegated to the Roma and Sinti, who proposes to the very young Carla to go and help them, and so, in a completely random way (but we know well that chance does not exist), Providence takes her where the Lord had a great plan for her. From a hitchhiking, Carla then makes a strong choice of total sharing, and in the midst of enormous difficulties she builds what AIZO is now. And not only as a material work: her spiritual role is very strong, because she is a guide, a beacon, a light, a source. Moreover, over the years, Carla has collected study materials from all over Europe and has been able to testify for the first time the huge number of Roma and Sinti who died in the Holocaust.

The habits and conceptions of these peoples do not correspond to ours: at a certain point in the film we talk about the house as a prison …

Panic attacks are common the first few times they try to move into an apartment. Even simple things like the punctuality of children at school prove to be very difficult: if you have not been in a camp you cannot understand why the child arrives at 10.00 and has not washed: he has not washed because maybe the water is frozen, and then how did he get from the field to the school? These are dimensions that are difficult to understand. With the film we try to make the viewer want to understand more. The title is also a phrase that was reported to us by Sister Sandra, the Mother General of the Sisters of Providence: in a shelter there was a seven-year-old Roma child who had continuous panic attacks and who could not sleep. . The nun held him in her arms and he said to her: “Sister Sandra, take me to see the night.” From there she understood that by taking him to the balcony every evening, and sleeping him outside, without a roof, she could then take him to bed to sleep peacefully.

At the beginning of the film, one of the protagonists talks about the invisibility of his people.

There is a mutual difficulty, and that is why in the film we wanted to bring the example of young people who represent change: a young Roma who became a stock market operator and a young violinist who played on street corners in Argentina and is now recognized. internationally. They are important stories of people who, without neglecting their identity, have managed to build a life for themselves.

The violinist also stresses the condition of women in the Roma community.

Yes, Rebecca admits that there are still many walls of prejudice to overcome, so testimonies like hers and that of Rosa, the carousel, are important testimonies of a change within their communities.

Then there is another woman who closes the film, a flamenco dancer, who defines her dance as a possibility of integration.

Andalusian flamenco has very strong origins in the gypsy world, in the gypsy world, but then it combines aspects of various cultures and elements of interreligious dialogue and therefore represents, even on a symbolic level, the possibility of a dialogue between cultures and between people. Music and dance are a message of hope.

Then there is an aspect that seems central to your film: Carla defines Jesus as “revolutionary”.

Spirituality is truly a central aspect of the film: Jesus was able to make a revolution in his world and we are all called to do it in ours, each in his own space. Carla says: “It doesn’t matter if you don’t love me, I love you.” How many obstacles she has encountered! But she never stops, the revolution of the Gospel does not stop only in words, but becomes a revolution in deeds, always with Jesus as the compass needle.

Listen to the podcast of the show “Guess who’s coming to lunch” with the interview with Lia Beltrami