In the context of the Ethiopian program of the European Film Festival, the Italian Institute of Culture in Addis Ababa hosted the screening of the film “Caravaggio’s Shadow” (winner of the prize #davidgiovani 2023) by Michele Placido with Riccardo Scamarcio, Louis Garrel, Isabelle Huppet and Micaela Ramazzotti. It is a compelling and emotional tribute to one of the most revolutionary and influential artists of all time, Michelangelo Merisi known as Caravaggio, a brilliant and subversive painter who lives with the weight of a death sentence and over whom the shadow of an implacable occult power.
Synopsis
Naples, 1609. Michelangelo Merisi, known to all as Caravaggio, He finds refuge with the Colonna family in anticipation of papal pardon that would allow him to escape from beheading as an exemplary punishment for having killed his friend-rival Ranuccio. The painter and sculptor claims that he simply defended himself from an ambush, since during his life “as a remand”, fights were on the agenda. His “reckless life” is reflected in his paintings, where a prostitute can become the Virgin Mary and a homeless Saint Peter turned upside down on the cross. For this reason the Church puts a kind of inquisitor on his heels, who has the task of investigating his past and getting in touch with people closest to him, those who protect him despite everything: in the first place the Marquise Costanza Colonna and the nephew of the Pope, Scipione Borghese.
Original title: L’ombra di Caravaggio
Year: 2022
Genre: Drama
Director: Michele Placido
Duration: 120 minutes
