telling right from wrong

Ever since Nietzsche announced God's Death in the late XIXth century, Westerners seem to have been drifting about like orphans in a storm -as Evelyn Waugh would say.

The world has gone mad today,

and good's bad today,

and black's white today,

and day's night today...

"Paths of Glory" (1957), by Stanley Kubrik

Yes, the song is Anything Goes (Cole Porter, 1934). Before the First World War, back when the Church would tell us exactly what to do, it was fairly easy to tell Right from Wrong. About a hundred years later, the boundaries between them are not quite as sharp.

As opposed to people in the Belle Epoque, too many of us today feel we've been let down by our seniors' creeds and confessions, as they seem to be incompatible with our new views on individual freedom. However, our basically secular world still craves for some sort of moral compass. And this is exactly the perfect context for the advent of a most peculiar phenomenon -known as the cult movie.

"A Room With a View" (1985)... What else?

A cult movie doesn't necessarily have to be an excellent one, technically speaking -though many times it is. "ARWAView", for instance, is both a cult movie AND a work of Art, but this isn't always the case. I wouldn't exactly label "Enchanted April" as a well crafted motion picture... in spite of its many charms.

Enchanted April (1991), by Mike Newell

No. I'm afraid international film festival awards have little to do with public devotion. I dare say a film becomes cult when viewers go back to see it again and again, in an irrational search for answers to Life's Biggest Questions.

Original Artwork by Roman Preneste, 2012

But watch out. No matter how true some dialogues can ring in your ears, they may be culturally conditioned or even biased. In a previous entry called A BETTER SONG TO SING, we saw how certain messages -say, in "Mamma Mia" or "Shirley Valentine"- can easily turn you into Ryanair's favourite customer of the year. But there are other, more subtle ways to manipulate you.

Mamma Mia, 2008

There is evidence for the assertion above in "Tea with Mussolini". In this gorgeous production by Franco Zeffirelli, neglected seven-year-old Luca suffers from his philandering Catholic father's lack of responsibility. It is only through the kindness and moral superiority of a completely unemotional English Protestant lady that the kid gets familiar with Shakespeare's plays to learn the difference between Right and Wrong. In so doing, Luca gets a complete humanistic education and grows into a sound young man of action, as well as a world-famous opera stage designer. In fact, the movie contains lots of biographical information about Zeffirelli's own childhood in thirties' Florence. But this is besides the point.

"Tea with Mussolini", 1999

My Anglophile friend Richi never liked "Tea with Musso..." or any film alike. As she said once to me:

- I can't take any more of these patronizing stories about Anglos teaching everybody how to lead their lives!

- Any particularly loathsome screenplay in mind? -I replied, expecting her to come up with another of my all-time favourites.

- Yes, there is one I can't get over... What is that one about Jaipur called?

- Oh. Surely you don't mean "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel"?

- Right! Exactly!! -she frantically nodded- Can you believe that postcolonial dog? -she almost screamed, getting slightly carried away- I mean, do the English still expect the rest of the world to sit in the dark for two hours to watch these geriatric crones coach a totally moronic Indian hotel manager till both his love-life and his business take off? Come on! I'm sure many Indians must have found the movie offensive.

-Excuse me? Maggie Smith and Judi Dench are far from being "crones"!!

Much as I enjoyed "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel", I have to admit Richi made a good point. It doesn't look pretty when an adult from one culture treats an adult in another culture like a child, whether this exchange takes place between Brits and Indians, Brits and Italians or Brits and Spaniards (see "Fawlty Towers" for references).

"Fawlty Towers" (1975-1979). Spanish waiter Manuel never fails to bring the worst out of Basil...

Mind you, I never resented my intensive and extensive exposure to Anglo ways and ideas. On the contrary. Like little orphan Luca, I've also been helped out of storms by English-speaking friends from every corner of the former Commonwealth. The English-speaking mind provides a clear, insightful perspective on things that's rare to find along the Mediterranean. And I believe its influence has made me better in every sense of the word.