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"La grande muraglia"
cinese, in quanto, come membro
di una troupe all'estero,
sembravo più ricco della
popolazione locale. Una volta gli
lasciai più denaro di quanto
necessario, quasi per farmelo
amico. Gli avevo anche regalato
un orologio. Ma il lunedì
seguente non lo vidi all'uscita.
Pensai: "Mi ha fregato, i cinesi
sono peggio degli altri... appena
beccano qualcosa di più, non si
fanno più vedere". Solo, dopo tre
o quattro giorni lo rividi col suo
rishiò: era buio in volto, molto
sciupato. Seppi così che gli era
morto il figlio. L'uomo me ne
raccontò la storia conducendomi
ad assistere al funerale del
bimbo cinese.
Fu uno spettacolo straziante che
to him, and he had wanted to invite me in and show me where he lived:
however he was so poor that he didn't have any tea. The only thing he
had was water, and he had heated some for me to show me his generosity
and friendship.
Almost certainly, that poor family had used the last of their oil to heat the
water, and had to make do with a cold supper that evening.
This, my first contact with the people of China, gave me the possibility of
comparing our two systems of behaviour. Just think, if a Chinese had
leant up against the wall of a house in Sicily... he would have been shot
And even though they might not have shot him in the Veneto district, they
certainly wouldn't have invited him in!
After this experience, I began, to study all the Chinese with whom I came
in contact, in an attempt to understand their character.
When I left my hotel in Peking, I was always followed by about eight or
ten children The shop assistants were always eager to help me. I had also
made friends with one of the rickshaw bearers who take you on tours of
the city, and found him waiting for me two or three times on. the trot
I always gave him some Chinese currency as, being a member of a
foreign film crew, I seemed to have more money than the locals. Once I
gave him more than was really necessary, in the hope that he might
become my friend I had also given him a watch The following Monday,
he wasn't waiting for me outside the hotel, and I thought to myself
"Fooled again.. The Chinese are worse than all the rest., as soon as you
give them a little bit more, they vanish". It was not until three or four
days later, that he reappeared, with his rickshaw, outside the hotel. He
looked awful, and his face was very drawn I could see immediately that
something terrible had happenend, and he told me that his small son
had died He recounted the story, as I accompanied him to the funeral.
ti fa piangere per dieci giorni.
Il padre si carica sulle spalle la
cassa che s'è costruito da solo.
La porta a seppelire vicino a
casa. Gli amici e i parenti hanno
intanto costruito di carte o di
legno i giocattoli più ambiti dal
piccolo morto, tutto quello che
pensano il bimbo potrebbe aver
desiderato nella vita: un cavallo,
una valigetta, una bambola, ecc.
Tutti questi oggetti sono posti
sulla tomba e dati alle fiamme in
modo che il fuoco porti in cielo
quei doni della vita terrena.
Queste immagini struggenti mi
hanno ancora di più legato al
popolo cinese.
A Shangai sostammo per oltre
due mesi senza girare un solo
metro di pellicola. In questa
occasione io vissi sempre coi
cinesi. La nostra troupe era
divisa in due, noi e i cinesi. Io
stavo coi cinesi, mangiavo coi
cinesi, passeggiavo coi cinesi.
Era nata un'amicizia
indissolubile.
In quel soggiorno ho potuto
notare come funzionavano i
treni a Shangai. La stazione giace
nel centro della città e dista dalla
periferia sei o sette chilometri.
Prima di entrare in città il treno
si ferma e i macchinisti
scendono dalla locomotiva, che è
sempre una di quelle enormi
macchine americane a quattro
cilindri, come i vecchi treni del
West. Di fronte alle piccole ruote
anteriori veniva applicata una
tavola imbottita di materassi.
Il viaggio riprendeva quindi
lentamente verso la stazione e il
treno impiegava anche un'ora e
mezzo per coprire i sei, sette
chilometri necessari.
I macchinisti stavano affacciati e
dalla locomotiva urlavano alla
gente di scostarsi. Ogni tanto
fermavano il convoglio e
raccoglievano un maiale, delle
galline, un bambino, che si erano
parati davanti. Li sollevavano
dolcemente e li spostavano ai
lati. Una scena di un'umanità
indescrivibile ma che, purtroppo,
non fu possibile riprendere
perché esclusa dal copione.
In conclusione posso dire che
quando si abbia un minimo di
sensibilità, la fotografia non può
prescindere da quello che è la
storia del mondo in quel
particolare momento. Che senso
ha fare una "bella" fotografia?
Non son mai riuscito a capire
cosa ciò significhi!
La mia fotografia, per modesta
che sia, è sempre frutto del
The little ceremony was so heart-rending, it made you want to weep for
ever! The father himself carried the small coffin, that he had made with
his own hands, on his shoulder. Meanwhile, relatives and friends had
fashioned, either from wood or paper, all the toys they thought the small
boy would have wished for, had he lived: a doll, a horse, a little case etc.
These objects were placed on the grave and then set fire to, so that the
flames might carry the terrestrial gifts to his spirit in the sky. This
extraordinarily moving scene created an even closer bond between
myself and the Chinese.
We then moved onto Shanghai, where we stayed for two months without
shooting a single foot of film Here, I actually lived with the Chinese. The
film crew was divided into two camps: Italian ad Chinese. I threw in my
lot with the Chinese, I ate with the Chinese, even went for walks with the
Chinese. An incredible friendship had been born!
While I was in Shanghai, I was able to see how the trains functioned The
railway station itself, is located in the centre of the city, about six or
seven kilometres from the outskirts. When the train arrives outside
Shanghai, it makes a brief stop, and the engineers jump down from the
locomotive, which is always one of those enormous four-cylinder
American engines — like the trains of the wild West. It was at this point
that a wooden board, padded with mattresses, was fixed onto the front of
the train
The train then continued slowly on its way to the station, taking about an
hour and a half to cover the six or seven kilometres!
The engineers would lean out of the engine, yelling to the people to move
out of the way. Every so often, they stopped the train, to gather up a pig,
some chickens or a young child that had wandered onto the tracks, which
they picked up very gently, and carefully placed to one side, out of harm's