Piazza Vittorio (2017) Movie Script
He can't stay here,
and you can't argue with me!
It's not up for discussion.
Just stand to the side and keep calm.
It's not on!
It's not up for discussion!
Look at the state
they've left it in!
He ran off in that direction.
I don't know if you understand.
He should have been out of here
already!
I saw him and I told him as well,
"You piece of shit!"
All right.
Understand?
We're going now.
And you're an even bigger idiot!
You're breaking my balls here
every day!
Thank you.
What filthy scum has come
to wreck Italy.
Italy has been completely destroyed
by these lowlifes!
Get out of here!
Close the borders to this scum!
- Lampedusa?
- Lampedusa, yes, yes.
I got here in 2007.
Afghanistan is good,
Italy is not good.
I don't have a house, I don't have
a shower, I don't have clothes,
I have no food or a place to sleep,
nothing.
Look at him...
Is there any food for us here?
I sleep on the street... and only
pasta, pasta, pasta and sleeping out
In my country I have a house,
I have food and clothes.
Ten people come to eat at my house,
it's my treat!
- Isn't that right?
- Yeah.
- Isn't that right?
- Yeah, yeah.
Twenty people come to eat
at my house, it's my treat!
Isn't that right?
Here pasta, eating out and that's all!
First I asked for political asylum
in Italy, then in Paris.
When I didn't get asylum in France,
they sent me back here.
Hey, pretty.
Oh, my God, you're so pretty!
She's wonderful.
Hey, beautiful!
She's beautiful.
Isn't she?
I live
in the San Giovanni neighbourhood.
I got into this work
through my parents.
How has the market changed?
There are lots of foreigners.
There are hardly any Italians now...
..compared to before.
The Italians
have changed neighbourhoods.
If you look, they're mostly foreign,
Chinese, Bangladeshis, Peruvians...
Hardly any Italians.
They have a different mentality,
they way they do things,
how they behave...
I have a good relationship with them.
I say hello and goodbye to everyone
and get on with my job.
I've integrated by now.
You had to integrate?
How do you think things will evolve?
It'll get worse as time goes on.
There won't be any improvements.
I'm of Egyptian origin.
I'm from Egypt.
Now I'm Italo-Egyptian.
I've been here since '82, you know?
Obviously,
I didn't speak a word of Italian,
but spending time with the people,
they taught me both Italian
and how to live as well.
Oh, God, it was an adventure.
There was no specific reason,
beyond the pleasure
of meeting new people,
new cultures, new women!
You know what I mean?
A bit of everything.
I've been here since '83-'84,
I experienced the market
when it was outdoors and now.
This is the lively square
of the great open-air market
of Piazza Vittorio.
The Piazza Vittorio market
really used to represent Rome,
the Rome of Julius Caesar
in my own way,
the Rome of Peppina, Giuseppina,
pizza with rocket,
people walking through the market.
That was the real Rome.
The essence of Piazza Vittorio
is joking, laughter, teasing people,
talking with clients,
discussing recipes...
The change is due to the arrival
of the immigrants
who bring their own culture.
Food is part of the culture
of every country.
Obviously, there's been change.
Rome now isn't Italy, but the world.
Rome introduces itself to the world
in Rome.
In '83-'84, when I needed a dessert
from my country done properly,
I had to go all round Rome
to find it.
Now instead I can find it anywhere.
There are Chinese, Filipinos,
Muslims, Christians...
When it comes to religions
each person has their own,
but we behave in a civilised way
between us.
It's fraternity, obviously, we love
each other, that's the main thing.
Terrorism? Me, as a human being...
I can be a terrorist or you can be.
It's about individuals,
not a country or a religion.
You take that individual and show him
the example of Piazza Vittorio
and how people live together
in peace!
There's no fear of terrorism here.
I was born
in a middle-class neighbourhood,
and then I came to live
in Piazza Vittorio in 1999.
Because I wanted to live abroad.
At the time
I was getting ready to make a film
which was called Roman Summer,
which is set entirely
in Piazza Vittorio.
The house I chose to live in was
the perfect house to shoot the film.
The biggest difference is that when I
came here there was still the market.
So, visually,
the square was totally different.
Changes had been taking place
for a few years already.
The Chinese had come
and bought the shops
that used to be run by Italians.
It's a neighbourhood that really
inspired me and continues to do so.
The fact you're interested
in Piazza Vittorio
means you found something unique here
as well.
Because of my work,
I had an anthropological curiosity
about faces.
Every time I went down to the square,
I'd get a surprise,
a face would strike me...
And lots of the characters
I met in the square
ended up in my films, so...
For me, immigration is one of
the things that made me move here.
But while for me this was a reason
to come here,
for lots of other people
it was a reason to leave.
The immigrants who come here with
a skill often make it here as well.
Any building work inside flats,
it's almost always Romanians.
They have a great knowledge
of building work,
if you go to a pizzeria,
the pizza-makers
are almost all Egyptians.
So there is a slice of the immigrants
who have managed to integrate.
In terms of the future,
it seems evident we're moving
in the direction of intolerance...
towards fear
and a closing of minds...
I think the most sensible response
would be to combine the efforts.
Instead of speculating
on poorer countries,
richer countries
should try to invest,
and assist those countries
in regaining economic independence.
But that would be going against
private interests,
so I don't think
it's very likely to happen.
So we speculate...
..but at the same time we're victims
of this mechanism, of this system,
along with the real victims.
You wanna look?
You want nude?
I'm not crazy.
I was kidding! Fuck off!
Good evening, Italian friends
Good evening, all my Italian friends
We're all Africans here, the same.
Senegal, Mali, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea
Bissau... We're still a big family.
How long have you been here in Italy?
About ten years now.
I came for my work,
a plane from Africa,
a contract in Florence,
I played in a show there.
I came to Rome, I played in Rome,
I liked Rome and I stayed here.
I'm a "griot", like my father and
my grandfathers and their fathers...
they were all storytellers.
I'm from Ghana, I've been here
for two years and one month.
How did you get here?
I came by boat.
Italy is always really beautiful.
I love working,
but now there are very few jobs.
The President of my country, Burkina
Faso, Blaise Campaore, is a dickhead.
He did bad things to my father.
My father died ten years ago.
When my father died, I was 12,
and I moved to Ivory Coast.
I did very little in Ivory Coast.
From there I went to Algeria
to Morocco to Tunisia to Libya
to Italy. That's enough now.
I'm waiting for my mum to find my
papers and passport in Burkina Faso.
So before long I'll be able
to go back to my own country.
Thanks, I'm off to eat now.
What happened?
Where do you come from in China?
Shenyang, near Shanghai.
How old were you when you left?
My father had already moved here
and he brought the whole family,
so we could all live together.
My dad died
and now Mum has moved back to China.
Chinese people want to work,
to work all the time.
Work is the most important thing.
The language is very difficult.
It's been ten years now so I can
speak Italian, but not fluently.
The first thing is the people
are nice, which I like.
The weather's nice.
I really like Italian food.
My daughter is in school.
She likes the school and her teacher.
She was born here
so she's like an Italian.
This is Piazza Vittorio in Rome.
It's best known to Romans for
its colourful market six days a week,
enlivened by housewives, hawkers
and all sorts of others,
unaware that just a few metres away,
right in the middle of the square,
is a huge park,
abandoned now and left to die,
thanks to civic negligence
and, let's face it,
the citizens as well.
It's a depressing scene.
Parts of the monuments that used
to adorn the park can still be seen.
Today old ladies, tramps and cats,
above all, live among the rubbish,
in this full-blown dump.
It's not only an aesthetic problem,
but a hygienic one.
These images,
which we know only too well,
offend the nose as much as the eye.
If it's true that looks matter,
smells are no less important.
Also important
are the needs of visitors
who will be able to tell
their children
that they too peed on the monuments
of Ancient Rome.
I've been in Rome since 2013.
I spent quite a few months sleeping
rough, and now I get a small pension,
which is worthless, because
it doesn't cover rent or anything.
So you need to sleep in a hostel
or at a friend's house.
You get by, you eat
at the soup kitchen at Colle Oppio.
Here, in this area, the government
does nothing, absolutely nothing.
Now I have a very good social worker
who's helping me,
but I really suffered...
with the cold,
with the fear...
that's a really bad thing...
..because people rob you here.
They might even kill someone...
..because they get drunk,
they're drunk from morning
to night...
It shouldn't be allowed.
I mean, you can have a drink,
a glass of wine won't hurt you...
but they're maybe drinking out
of despair. Help them as well...
Pope Francis helps a lot.
You write to him twice a year
and he sends you some money.
Me as well, every six months...
but there are so many of us,
he can't give everything to everyone.
He helps those he can help.
30 years ago Rome was beautiful,
there wasn't all this filth.
women should say dont give a damn
They stuff their faces
and rob us blind, that's all.
We occupied CasaPound
in Piazza Vittorio in 2003,
because there was
a severe housing shortage in Rome,
so we looked
for an empty state-owned building,
and we found this building, and it
became a symbol of "Italian-ness"
within this multi-ethnic area.
You go on with them...
and we'll follow you.
I had difficulty finding a house,
and I've been living here
with my family for 13 years now.
I live here as well.
I live with my husband,
an activist with CasaPound.
Other people in the building
have started businesses
in the neighbourhood,
a restaurant, and we have a bookshop.
We promote culture in an area
where culture has vanished.
So we live in our neighbourhood,
we don't just sleep here.
We try to renovate it as well.
There's no social structure.
It's a neighbourhood
which is a sort of jigsaw of ghettoes
and, as you can see,
we're one
of the few Italian institutions
within this chaotic microcosmos.
We're facing a global phenomenon
of migration,
the "great replacement".
At this point we can't be welcoming
a large part of Africa or Asia
into Europe or Italy.
In Italy there are no jobs
that Italians don't want to do...
there are salaries and types of
contract, that actually don't exist,
that Italians can no longer accept.
We have fought here to get
a minimum wage, to get paid holidays,
maternity leave, sick pay,
pensions...
a whole series of benefits
our fathers fought for.
And instead this low-cost labour
force that Europe is importing
lowers the minimum, social,
trade-union
and salary rights of all workers.
As Marx theorised,
among other things,
all it takes is for one worker
to accept poorer conditions
for them to be imposed on everyone.
Maybe the issue is new capitalism.
There are those who kept colonising,
without armies,
without tangible empires,
but by creating economic empires.
Multinationals exploited
those countries, then abandoned them,
and made people believe that by
reaching the source of capitalism
they'd find paradise,
but that's not true.
The capitalist paradise
doesn't exist.
It's locked in bank vaults
or the stock market,
and in the hands of ten people
around the world.
I agree with taking all those
who arrive to Mr Rothschild's house
or the gardens of the super-rich.
Fine, he can afford to look after
them all, but Italian workers can't.
Those continents
continue to be exploited,
they are still very rich
in resources and materials
we don't have...
diamonds, gold, oil, timber...
We have to affirm the right
not to a welcome
but to not to have to emigrate.
Why is this never mentioned?
We have to affirm the right
of these peoples
to have a development and a history
in the places where they're born.
The Italian and European
people have the same enemy
as the peoples of Africa or Asia.
The people who keep Italians
and Europeans ground down
are the same who block development
in Africa.
Therefore there's a need to regain
European sovereignty
and for the Africans to do the same
in their lands,
which would ensure
a different kind of development.
What we don't want is a cataclysm,
a war between the losers,
because that's what it is.
Those who are able to live
in nice neighbourhoods
and send their kids to good schools,
are able to maintain their lifestyles
without being in any way affected
by the visible effects
of uncontrolled immigration
on the life of the community.
The elites become increasingly elite,
while the poor are increasingly poor,
increasingly an underclass.
There is no middle class any more,
there's no support structure,
this is what we see.
The European Union is an ongoing
surrender of sovereignty
in relation to every area of life
where the EU decides to interfere,
such as food quality standards,
but also economic
and financial sovereignty.
We are no longer sovereign.
If there's not a radical change, this
will increasingly become the case.
There are statistics that say in
Italy we will be completely replaced.
The Italian people
in a few decades...
50 years.
In 50 years, we won't exist.
So you don't need a crystal ball
to see the future.
I'm from Basilicata.
I came here for a holiday
with my uncle, my father's brother,
and from that I said to this uncle,
"I want to stay in Rome!"
The first time I came to Rome...
I've always lived with my sister...
and I was basically just enchanted
by Rome.
I've been living
in this neighbourhood for 55 years!
My husband never wanted to leave
this neighbourhood.
Life used to be really good here.
We used to go to Colle Oppio.
It was quieter then, you could go
for a walk in peace and quiet.
It's not like that now. Now people
are afraid of these foreigners.
There are good and bad people,
and it's the same with Italians.
In the early days, in the 1960s,
there were foreigners,
and my husband would take a bowl
of pasta to them at Colle Oppio,
because he felt sorry
for these people.
But when you hear about some
of the things they do, you get angry.
You think, "Why do you have to come
here and upset us in Italy?"
Italy can't welcome everyone.
I mean, there are lots of Italians
who need help,
and if we help these people,
we can't help the Italians.
The Italians need to come first
and then later we can help them.
This is the thing. Especially
those who are fleeing wars.
It's so sad when you see children
having to come on those boats...
even just seeing them is painful.
Here we are in this beautiful park
in Rome, Colle Oppio.
We're migrant workers
from Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador,
and we're celebrating
the Return of the Sun Festival.
It's the Andean New Year,
the start of the year 5524,
according to the Aymara calendar.
This is a feast day that is
celebrated throughout South America.
This is a historical place,
like Ancient Rome,
which also has a culture
that is millennia old.
We too have a millennia-old culture,
we come from the Inca culture,
the culture of Tawantinsuyu,
who ruled the whole of South America.
We're here to celebrate.
We're workers and we're happy
that our father, the sun, gives us
fruit, water, rain, pachamama...
We're also angry about the fact
that in our country,
international companies
are contaminating the whole ecosystem
drilling for oil or mining.
Mother Earth needs to be respected!
We're workers,
we have our own culture,
and we maintain our own traditions
and our own identity.
Thank you to the people of Italy who
have welcomed us and given us work.
We earn a wage
and we help you to grow as well.
I'm sorry to say, though, that
the situation for us migrant workers
is getting worse every day.
We've had many rights taken from us.
We don't have citizenship,
and here every day...
..there is a form of modern slavery,
practically...
..that of neoliberalism.
The future's uncertain.
The future's uncertain for us.
But we still have to live!
I see increasingly fewer people from
here, especially of a certain age.
They are heroes who continue to come
here, with dignity.
But there are positive aspects
as well. For example, football...
allows children of different
nationalities to play together,
to be united.
But there are also people
who have problems,
and so this is a place
where they can spend the day
and try to figure out how to resolve
the problem of lunch or dinner...
relying on one of the charities,
maybe.
But there are also young people,
I believe,
who take part in criminal activities,
such as pickpockets, etc,
good-for-nothings who maybe
have had a series of disappointments,
who haven't managed to integrate,
who haven't found a permanent job,
there are all sorts of reasons...
But the thing is a lot of them
hassle the people who come here
and who are just minding
their own business.
No, we're from Tuscany, but
we've been in Rome for a long time.
Piazza Vittorio is still a lovely
neighbourhood, I can tell you that.
It's always been a beautiful square.
It has the lot. Children playing...
But, yes, it's a beautiful square.
Sure, there are people
from all over...but...
Then there are the pains in the arse
as well.
He had a saffron-coloured lapel
And a cyclamen-coloured tailcoat
He used to walk from Lodi to Milan
To meet the beautiful Gigogin
Gigogin, my hope,
I used to call her sweet love
In a world of poetry
we'd still be together.
Things are getting better
all the time.
Even the children playing...
It's always getting better.
Because a square that doesn't have
children playing isn't a square.
I'm from Calabria, originally.
She's been here for years.
How do you get on with people here?
Very well. They're nice.
Obviously, you don't want
to be "shooting" them!
The way you treat them is how
they'll treat you. You understand?
If the football come over here,
I'll kick it back!
Thank you.
You're welcome!
Who called me?
- Me.
- You?
I'm from China.
My hometown is called Hangzhou.
It just happened.
In China
I wasn't in the restaurant trade.
My father's an engineer.
He designs and builds houses.
I studied a bit,
and he built up a big company.
But I didn't like it much, being tied
to one place, working with numbers...
Then destiny took a hand,
and I found a husband in Italy.
I got married and I moved to Italy.
In fact I've been in Italy
for 25 years now.
23 in China. That makes 48.
Now you know my age!
Honestly, I really feel more Italian
than Chinese.
Most of the Chinese in Rome
come from a city called Wen Zhou.
I'm not from there, I don't speak
the same dialect as them,
for them, I'm a foreigner.
In the 1990s, 1996,
there were five or ten shops.
Then in the period 2000-2005,
they popped up all over the place,
that was the peak.
People always ask, "What's their
business? What do they sell?"
Because the shops are so small
and there's never anyone in them.
This is because their shops are
showrooms, they don't sell retail,
but wholesale.
The buyer comes,
30 items, notes the numbers and
then goes somewhere else to get it.
My family is all here.
Me, my husband, my married son,
my daughter...
my grandson...they're all here.
But my mum and dad are in China,
my brother is in China.
When I go to China
it's for a holiday.
If you ask me
if I'd like to live in China,
the answer is no, I live here,
I prefer it here.
I really feel at home here.
I really like Piazza Vittorio.
I said to myself,
"Piazza Vittorio is so beautiful!"
Piazza Vittorio is the biggest square
in Rome,
it's the only square in Rome
ringed by porticoes...
It's close to the station,
it's close to the Coliseum...
It's a beautiful place,
I really like it.
They've sorted it out a bit.
There was a time when there were
thieves and bag-snatchers,
maybe it still happens...
I had the unpleasant experience
of having a gun pointed at my head!
I got robbed on a special day,
Christmas 2015!
The guy was Italian, a Roman,
he had a Roman accent.
It was five past midnight.
I was at the cash register,
head down, playing on my phone...
This guy comes in,
all dressed in black with a ski mask.
He came through the first door,
second door, pulled out the gun...
I was, like, "What's happening?"
I didn't understand what it was.
Then he came over and said, "Give me
the takings, give me the takings!"
My husband was sitting
at another table.
He saw what was happening,
threw a chair...
and he hit the guy's arm...
but not the one with the gun,
so the gun didn't drop. The guy...
He pointed the gun at my husband.
My husband hid,
the robber came behind the counter
and put the gun at my head,
forcing me to the floor.
Then he opened the cash register and
stuffed the money into his pockets.
Then he left.
It's not like the place was empty.
There were six men.
When I went to look,
they were all under their tables.
There was a definite lack of courage
there!
Then one of them called the police
and they came right away.
The future is a bit difficult
at the moment.
When Italy went from the lira
to the euro,
a lot of people became poorer,
especially those on salaries.
It was like salaries were halved.
People with their own businesses
felt it a bit less,
because if my costs go up,
I increase prices.
There's a Chinese proverb,
"When the water rises
so does the boat."
The boat floats.
If the water rises, so does the boat.
Mao for me is a great character.
There was nobody like him anywhere.
First he was a great writer,
a great poet.
As President of China,
he thought only of the Chinese.
This is the truth!
I find the man fascinating.
Are you photographing everything?
He's taking a picture of us.
People always say,
"What a lovely couple!"
This is the most beautiful square
in Europe, let's say.
Because this isn't a park,
it's a square, Piazza Vittorio.
Tell me where you can find a square
this size.
If they looked after it a bit better,
it would be really wonderful.
I've been here for 40 years.
It was different
when there was the market,
but the market
wasn't properly cared for either.
Then afterwards we thought we were,
I don't know, a lovely neighbourhood,
instead it went from bad to worse.
There used to be a toilet.
They removed that
and now there's an open-air bathroom.
Everyone is...
Now it's a mess, and there are all
these people with their faces hidden.
All these Muslims with their faces
covered, and we don't like that.
We don't like that.
A headscarf is OK, but
all covered up, no, that's not OK.
I don't like that.
There aren't any problems because
they're good hard-working, but...
We're just not happy with
these drunks, but we avoid them.
As soon as we see something wrong,
we move to avoid...
We make a mess, we can't deny it
and say we don't, but...
but we pay all sorts of taxes,
but everything's a mess here.
There used to be gardeners
but they're gone now.
It's not good, it's not good.
You can't do that in Italy.
We've no idea
what the hell they want.
There was never enough money,
so what there is we'll make do with.
Well, I like Rome.
I never liked the place
where I was born.
I like Rome, and so what?
Do you have to be
from rome to like rome
It used to be really beautiful...
Now it's disgusting.
There was a fountain down there
that was all lit up,
then there was a caf with an
orchestra and singers in the evening.
Now there's nothing!
What's changed?
These other people here...
They've taken over the square,
so they have.
So...
I'm drunk on the sun
I'm drunk on the sea
I'm drunk on the sun
I'm drunk on you
My hands are trembling
and you want to know why
I'm drunk on the sun
I'm drunk on you!
Thank you.
Whoever eats of this bread
will have eternal life.
And the bread I give you is my flesh
for the life of the world.
I've lived here since '56.
I've been in Rome since '56.
And here since '63.
The same as ever. It wasn't
maintained the way it is now,
that's for sure.
I'm talking about years and years
ago,
when you worked more after dinner
than during the day.
It was full of people.
Hey, Mustapha!
My name is Mustapha.
Hello, Mustapha.
Hello.
In Italian!
I've been in Italy 12 years!
I'm from Senegal.
Since 2004.
I started working here in 2006.
I always say it's destiny.
I was looking for work one day
and a friend of mine told me
about the lady here, so I came.
The first day it was a bit weird
for me because it was all new to me.
But since I had a bit of life
experience, I adapted quite easily,
with her help.
After so many years in the business,
she gave me advice which I took.
For me it's something more profound.
It depends on the situation
in the country.
Because before I came here
in about 2004,
it was easy to find certain types
of work.
But as time went on,
if you look around,
you'll see that these types of jobs
which were for immigrants
are now being done by Italians.
So it becomes harder for immigrants
to find work.
This is also a result of the flux
of immigrants coming recently.
It's not the way it used to be.
Before, the immigrants were better
educated and brought something,
but now most of them come
from villages or that sort of place,
so it's difficult
for these immigrants to integrate.
For example, it takes at least
10, 15 years to learn the language.
I'm better off here
in this neighbourhood.
Italians are nice people. If you
don't have papers, it's a problem.
If you have the right papers,
there are no problems.
I'm here from 8am till 10pm.
I'm always working.
Now we're in Ramadan.
18 days have passed already.
Near Piazza Vittorio,
there are four mosques.
Thank you.
I'm from Bangladesh.
I came here eight years ago.
I came here to work,
first as a student,
now I have a general store.
Well, work's OK. It's not fantastic
and it's not terrible!
My family, my son...
my father and mother
are in Bangladesh.
- Do you go and see them sometimes?
- Not yet, no.
In Bangladesh
there are political problems.
I come from Moldavia.
I came to Italy 16 years ago.
At the time, because of perestroika,
lots of people were unemployed,
and we came here looking for work.
I came 16 years ago...
..and I worked as a maid
for a family.
When I came at first, it took me
about a month to find a job.
After a month, I found a job
and I've been working here since.
I was lucky, because I was here and
they were in Moldavia on their own.
They started their studies.
My oldest daughter studied journalism
at college
and started working in radio,
despite being on her own there.
Then, gradually, Cristina started,
she studied there,
she went to high school.
Eventually she said, "Mum,
I want to come to Italy with you."
So I started all the procedures
for her to be able to come legally.
She came to study in Italy
and so we keep each other company.
I've worked hard and honestly
all these years.
I didn't have any holidays,
no Christmas or Easter...
I worked all the time.
Now, despite everything, I'm very
happy with both my daughters.
My oldest has two children, a boy
and a girl. I'm very happy with them.
They have a lovely family and a
beautiful house, they're really fine.
Cristina has a beautiful daughter.
Whenever I have a day off
I come to see her.
I can't wait to see her.
I'm very happy despite being far
from home and my brothers.
Well, that's all right,
what can you do? That's life.
My face is all...
and you can't argue with me!
It's not up for discussion.
Just stand to the side and keep calm.
It's not on!
It's not up for discussion!
Look at the state
they've left it in!
He ran off in that direction.
I don't know if you understand.
He should have been out of here
already!
I saw him and I told him as well,
"You piece of shit!"
All right.
Understand?
We're going now.
And you're an even bigger idiot!
You're breaking my balls here
every day!
Thank you.
What filthy scum has come
to wreck Italy.
Italy has been completely destroyed
by these lowlifes!
Get out of here!
Close the borders to this scum!
- Lampedusa?
- Lampedusa, yes, yes.
I got here in 2007.
Afghanistan is good,
Italy is not good.
I don't have a house, I don't have
a shower, I don't have clothes,
I have no food or a place to sleep,
nothing.
Look at him...
Is there any food for us here?
I sleep on the street... and only
pasta, pasta, pasta and sleeping out
In my country I have a house,
I have food and clothes.
Ten people come to eat at my house,
it's my treat!
- Isn't that right?
- Yeah.
- Isn't that right?
- Yeah, yeah.
Twenty people come to eat
at my house, it's my treat!
Isn't that right?
Here pasta, eating out and that's all!
First I asked for political asylum
in Italy, then in Paris.
When I didn't get asylum in France,
they sent me back here.
Hey, pretty.
Oh, my God, you're so pretty!
She's wonderful.
Hey, beautiful!
She's beautiful.
Isn't she?
I live
in the San Giovanni neighbourhood.
I got into this work
through my parents.
How has the market changed?
There are lots of foreigners.
There are hardly any Italians now...
..compared to before.
The Italians
have changed neighbourhoods.
If you look, they're mostly foreign,
Chinese, Bangladeshis, Peruvians...
Hardly any Italians.
They have a different mentality,
they way they do things,
how they behave...
I have a good relationship with them.
I say hello and goodbye to everyone
and get on with my job.
I've integrated by now.
You had to integrate?
How do you think things will evolve?
It'll get worse as time goes on.
There won't be any improvements.
I'm of Egyptian origin.
I'm from Egypt.
Now I'm Italo-Egyptian.
I've been here since '82, you know?
Obviously,
I didn't speak a word of Italian,
but spending time with the people,
they taught me both Italian
and how to live as well.
Oh, God, it was an adventure.
There was no specific reason,
beyond the pleasure
of meeting new people,
new cultures, new women!
You know what I mean?
A bit of everything.
I've been here since '83-'84,
I experienced the market
when it was outdoors and now.
This is the lively square
of the great open-air market
of Piazza Vittorio.
The Piazza Vittorio market
really used to represent Rome,
the Rome of Julius Caesar
in my own way,
the Rome of Peppina, Giuseppina,
pizza with rocket,
people walking through the market.
That was the real Rome.
The essence of Piazza Vittorio
is joking, laughter, teasing people,
talking with clients,
discussing recipes...
The change is due to the arrival
of the immigrants
who bring their own culture.
Food is part of the culture
of every country.
Obviously, there's been change.
Rome now isn't Italy, but the world.
Rome introduces itself to the world
in Rome.
In '83-'84, when I needed a dessert
from my country done properly,
I had to go all round Rome
to find it.
Now instead I can find it anywhere.
There are Chinese, Filipinos,
Muslims, Christians...
When it comes to religions
each person has their own,
but we behave in a civilised way
between us.
It's fraternity, obviously, we love
each other, that's the main thing.
Terrorism? Me, as a human being...
I can be a terrorist or you can be.
It's about individuals,
not a country or a religion.
You take that individual and show him
the example of Piazza Vittorio
and how people live together
in peace!
There's no fear of terrorism here.
I was born
in a middle-class neighbourhood,
and then I came to live
in Piazza Vittorio in 1999.
Because I wanted to live abroad.
At the time
I was getting ready to make a film
which was called Roman Summer,
which is set entirely
in Piazza Vittorio.
The house I chose to live in was
the perfect house to shoot the film.
The biggest difference is that when I
came here there was still the market.
So, visually,
the square was totally different.
Changes had been taking place
for a few years already.
The Chinese had come
and bought the shops
that used to be run by Italians.
It's a neighbourhood that really
inspired me and continues to do so.
The fact you're interested
in Piazza Vittorio
means you found something unique here
as well.
Because of my work,
I had an anthropological curiosity
about faces.
Every time I went down to the square,
I'd get a surprise,
a face would strike me...
And lots of the characters
I met in the square
ended up in my films, so...
For me, immigration is one of
the things that made me move here.
But while for me this was a reason
to come here,
for lots of other people
it was a reason to leave.
The immigrants who come here with
a skill often make it here as well.
Any building work inside flats,
it's almost always Romanians.
They have a great knowledge
of building work,
if you go to a pizzeria,
the pizza-makers
are almost all Egyptians.
So there is a slice of the immigrants
who have managed to integrate.
In terms of the future,
it seems evident we're moving
in the direction of intolerance...
towards fear
and a closing of minds...
I think the most sensible response
would be to combine the efforts.
Instead of speculating
on poorer countries,
richer countries
should try to invest,
and assist those countries
in regaining economic independence.
But that would be going against
private interests,
so I don't think
it's very likely to happen.
So we speculate...
..but at the same time we're victims
of this mechanism, of this system,
along with the real victims.
You wanna look?
You want nude?
I'm not crazy.
I was kidding! Fuck off!
Good evening, Italian friends
Good evening, all my Italian friends
We're all Africans here, the same.
Senegal, Mali, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea
Bissau... We're still a big family.
How long have you been here in Italy?
About ten years now.
I came for my work,
a plane from Africa,
a contract in Florence,
I played in a show there.
I came to Rome, I played in Rome,
I liked Rome and I stayed here.
I'm a "griot", like my father and
my grandfathers and their fathers...
they were all storytellers.
I'm from Ghana, I've been here
for two years and one month.
How did you get here?
I came by boat.
Italy is always really beautiful.
I love working,
but now there are very few jobs.
The President of my country, Burkina
Faso, Blaise Campaore, is a dickhead.
He did bad things to my father.
My father died ten years ago.
When my father died, I was 12,
and I moved to Ivory Coast.
I did very little in Ivory Coast.
From there I went to Algeria
to Morocco to Tunisia to Libya
to Italy. That's enough now.
I'm waiting for my mum to find my
papers and passport in Burkina Faso.
So before long I'll be able
to go back to my own country.
Thanks, I'm off to eat now.
What happened?
Where do you come from in China?
Shenyang, near Shanghai.
How old were you when you left?
My father had already moved here
and he brought the whole family,
so we could all live together.
My dad died
and now Mum has moved back to China.
Chinese people want to work,
to work all the time.
Work is the most important thing.
The language is very difficult.
It's been ten years now so I can
speak Italian, but not fluently.
The first thing is the people
are nice, which I like.
The weather's nice.
I really like Italian food.
My daughter is in school.
She likes the school and her teacher.
She was born here
so she's like an Italian.
This is Piazza Vittorio in Rome.
It's best known to Romans for
its colourful market six days a week,
enlivened by housewives, hawkers
and all sorts of others,
unaware that just a few metres away,
right in the middle of the square,
is a huge park,
abandoned now and left to die,
thanks to civic negligence
and, let's face it,
the citizens as well.
It's a depressing scene.
Parts of the monuments that used
to adorn the park can still be seen.
Today old ladies, tramps and cats,
above all, live among the rubbish,
in this full-blown dump.
It's not only an aesthetic problem,
but a hygienic one.
These images,
which we know only too well,
offend the nose as much as the eye.
If it's true that looks matter,
smells are no less important.
Also important
are the needs of visitors
who will be able to tell
their children
that they too peed on the monuments
of Ancient Rome.
I've been in Rome since 2013.
I spent quite a few months sleeping
rough, and now I get a small pension,
which is worthless, because
it doesn't cover rent or anything.
So you need to sleep in a hostel
or at a friend's house.
You get by, you eat
at the soup kitchen at Colle Oppio.
Here, in this area, the government
does nothing, absolutely nothing.
Now I have a very good social worker
who's helping me,
but I really suffered...
with the cold,
with the fear...
that's a really bad thing...
..because people rob you here.
They might even kill someone...
..because they get drunk,
they're drunk from morning
to night...
It shouldn't be allowed.
I mean, you can have a drink,
a glass of wine won't hurt you...
but they're maybe drinking out
of despair. Help them as well...
Pope Francis helps a lot.
You write to him twice a year
and he sends you some money.
Me as well, every six months...
but there are so many of us,
he can't give everything to everyone.
He helps those he can help.
30 years ago Rome was beautiful,
there wasn't all this filth.
women should say dont give a damn
They stuff their faces
and rob us blind, that's all.
We occupied CasaPound
in Piazza Vittorio in 2003,
because there was
a severe housing shortage in Rome,
so we looked
for an empty state-owned building,
and we found this building, and it
became a symbol of "Italian-ness"
within this multi-ethnic area.
You go on with them...
and we'll follow you.
I had difficulty finding a house,
and I've been living here
with my family for 13 years now.
I live here as well.
I live with my husband,
an activist with CasaPound.
Other people in the building
have started businesses
in the neighbourhood,
a restaurant, and we have a bookshop.
We promote culture in an area
where culture has vanished.
So we live in our neighbourhood,
we don't just sleep here.
We try to renovate it as well.
There's no social structure.
It's a neighbourhood
which is a sort of jigsaw of ghettoes
and, as you can see,
we're one
of the few Italian institutions
within this chaotic microcosmos.
We're facing a global phenomenon
of migration,
the "great replacement".
At this point we can't be welcoming
a large part of Africa or Asia
into Europe or Italy.
In Italy there are no jobs
that Italians don't want to do...
there are salaries and types of
contract, that actually don't exist,
that Italians can no longer accept.
We have fought here to get
a minimum wage, to get paid holidays,
maternity leave, sick pay,
pensions...
a whole series of benefits
our fathers fought for.
And instead this low-cost labour
force that Europe is importing
lowers the minimum, social,
trade-union
and salary rights of all workers.
As Marx theorised,
among other things,
all it takes is for one worker
to accept poorer conditions
for them to be imposed on everyone.
Maybe the issue is new capitalism.
There are those who kept colonising,
without armies,
without tangible empires,
but by creating economic empires.
Multinationals exploited
those countries, then abandoned them,
and made people believe that by
reaching the source of capitalism
they'd find paradise,
but that's not true.
The capitalist paradise
doesn't exist.
It's locked in bank vaults
or the stock market,
and in the hands of ten people
around the world.
I agree with taking all those
who arrive to Mr Rothschild's house
or the gardens of the super-rich.
Fine, he can afford to look after
them all, but Italian workers can't.
Those continents
continue to be exploited,
they are still very rich
in resources and materials
we don't have...
diamonds, gold, oil, timber...
We have to affirm the right
not to a welcome
but to not to have to emigrate.
Why is this never mentioned?
We have to affirm the right
of these peoples
to have a development and a history
in the places where they're born.
The Italian and European
people have the same enemy
as the peoples of Africa or Asia.
The people who keep Italians
and Europeans ground down
are the same who block development
in Africa.
Therefore there's a need to regain
European sovereignty
and for the Africans to do the same
in their lands,
which would ensure
a different kind of development.
What we don't want is a cataclysm,
a war between the losers,
because that's what it is.
Those who are able to live
in nice neighbourhoods
and send their kids to good schools,
are able to maintain their lifestyles
without being in any way affected
by the visible effects
of uncontrolled immigration
on the life of the community.
The elites become increasingly elite,
while the poor are increasingly poor,
increasingly an underclass.
There is no middle class any more,
there's no support structure,
this is what we see.
The European Union is an ongoing
surrender of sovereignty
in relation to every area of life
where the EU decides to interfere,
such as food quality standards,
but also economic
and financial sovereignty.
We are no longer sovereign.
If there's not a radical change, this
will increasingly become the case.
There are statistics that say in
Italy we will be completely replaced.
The Italian people
in a few decades...
50 years.
In 50 years, we won't exist.
So you don't need a crystal ball
to see the future.
I'm from Basilicata.
I came here for a holiday
with my uncle, my father's brother,
and from that I said to this uncle,
"I want to stay in Rome!"
The first time I came to Rome...
I've always lived with my sister...
and I was basically just enchanted
by Rome.
I've been living
in this neighbourhood for 55 years!
My husband never wanted to leave
this neighbourhood.
Life used to be really good here.
We used to go to Colle Oppio.
It was quieter then, you could go
for a walk in peace and quiet.
It's not like that now. Now people
are afraid of these foreigners.
There are good and bad people,
and it's the same with Italians.
In the early days, in the 1960s,
there were foreigners,
and my husband would take a bowl
of pasta to them at Colle Oppio,
because he felt sorry
for these people.
But when you hear about some
of the things they do, you get angry.
You think, "Why do you have to come
here and upset us in Italy?"
Italy can't welcome everyone.
I mean, there are lots of Italians
who need help,
and if we help these people,
we can't help the Italians.
The Italians need to come first
and then later we can help them.
This is the thing. Especially
those who are fleeing wars.
It's so sad when you see children
having to come on those boats...
even just seeing them is painful.
Here we are in this beautiful park
in Rome, Colle Oppio.
We're migrant workers
from Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador,
and we're celebrating
the Return of the Sun Festival.
It's the Andean New Year,
the start of the year 5524,
according to the Aymara calendar.
This is a feast day that is
celebrated throughout South America.
This is a historical place,
like Ancient Rome,
which also has a culture
that is millennia old.
We too have a millennia-old culture,
we come from the Inca culture,
the culture of Tawantinsuyu,
who ruled the whole of South America.
We're here to celebrate.
We're workers and we're happy
that our father, the sun, gives us
fruit, water, rain, pachamama...
We're also angry about the fact
that in our country,
international companies
are contaminating the whole ecosystem
drilling for oil or mining.
Mother Earth needs to be respected!
We're workers,
we have our own culture,
and we maintain our own traditions
and our own identity.
Thank you to the people of Italy who
have welcomed us and given us work.
We earn a wage
and we help you to grow as well.
I'm sorry to say, though, that
the situation for us migrant workers
is getting worse every day.
We've had many rights taken from us.
We don't have citizenship,
and here every day...
..there is a form of modern slavery,
practically...
..that of neoliberalism.
The future's uncertain.
The future's uncertain for us.
But we still have to live!
I see increasingly fewer people from
here, especially of a certain age.
They are heroes who continue to come
here, with dignity.
But there are positive aspects
as well. For example, football...
allows children of different
nationalities to play together,
to be united.
But there are also people
who have problems,
and so this is a place
where they can spend the day
and try to figure out how to resolve
the problem of lunch or dinner...
relying on one of the charities,
maybe.
But there are also young people,
I believe,
who take part in criminal activities,
such as pickpockets, etc,
good-for-nothings who maybe
have had a series of disappointments,
who haven't managed to integrate,
who haven't found a permanent job,
there are all sorts of reasons...
But the thing is a lot of them
hassle the people who come here
and who are just minding
their own business.
No, we're from Tuscany, but
we've been in Rome for a long time.
Piazza Vittorio is still a lovely
neighbourhood, I can tell you that.
It's always been a beautiful square.
It has the lot. Children playing...
But, yes, it's a beautiful square.
Sure, there are people
from all over...but...
Then there are the pains in the arse
as well.
He had a saffron-coloured lapel
And a cyclamen-coloured tailcoat
He used to walk from Lodi to Milan
To meet the beautiful Gigogin
Gigogin, my hope,
I used to call her sweet love
In a world of poetry
we'd still be together.
Things are getting better
all the time.
Even the children playing...
It's always getting better.
Because a square that doesn't have
children playing isn't a square.
I'm from Calabria, originally.
She's been here for years.
How do you get on with people here?
Very well. They're nice.
Obviously, you don't want
to be "shooting" them!
The way you treat them is how
they'll treat you. You understand?
If the football come over here,
I'll kick it back!
Thank you.
You're welcome!
Who called me?
- Me.
- You?
I'm from China.
My hometown is called Hangzhou.
It just happened.
In China
I wasn't in the restaurant trade.
My father's an engineer.
He designs and builds houses.
I studied a bit,
and he built up a big company.
But I didn't like it much, being tied
to one place, working with numbers...
Then destiny took a hand,
and I found a husband in Italy.
I got married and I moved to Italy.
In fact I've been in Italy
for 25 years now.
23 in China. That makes 48.
Now you know my age!
Honestly, I really feel more Italian
than Chinese.
Most of the Chinese in Rome
come from a city called Wen Zhou.
I'm not from there, I don't speak
the same dialect as them,
for them, I'm a foreigner.
In the 1990s, 1996,
there were five or ten shops.
Then in the period 2000-2005,
they popped up all over the place,
that was the peak.
People always ask, "What's their
business? What do they sell?"
Because the shops are so small
and there's never anyone in them.
This is because their shops are
showrooms, they don't sell retail,
but wholesale.
The buyer comes,
30 items, notes the numbers and
then goes somewhere else to get it.
My family is all here.
Me, my husband, my married son,
my daughter...
my grandson...they're all here.
But my mum and dad are in China,
my brother is in China.
When I go to China
it's for a holiday.
If you ask me
if I'd like to live in China,
the answer is no, I live here,
I prefer it here.
I really feel at home here.
I really like Piazza Vittorio.
I said to myself,
"Piazza Vittorio is so beautiful!"
Piazza Vittorio is the biggest square
in Rome,
it's the only square in Rome
ringed by porticoes...
It's close to the station,
it's close to the Coliseum...
It's a beautiful place,
I really like it.
They've sorted it out a bit.
There was a time when there were
thieves and bag-snatchers,
maybe it still happens...
I had the unpleasant experience
of having a gun pointed at my head!
I got robbed on a special day,
Christmas 2015!
The guy was Italian, a Roman,
he had a Roman accent.
It was five past midnight.
I was at the cash register,
head down, playing on my phone...
This guy comes in,
all dressed in black with a ski mask.
He came through the first door,
second door, pulled out the gun...
I was, like, "What's happening?"
I didn't understand what it was.
Then he came over and said, "Give me
the takings, give me the takings!"
My husband was sitting
at another table.
He saw what was happening,
threw a chair...
and he hit the guy's arm...
but not the one with the gun,
so the gun didn't drop. The guy...
He pointed the gun at my husband.
My husband hid,
the robber came behind the counter
and put the gun at my head,
forcing me to the floor.
Then he opened the cash register and
stuffed the money into his pockets.
Then he left.
It's not like the place was empty.
There were six men.
When I went to look,
they were all under their tables.
There was a definite lack of courage
there!
Then one of them called the police
and they came right away.
The future is a bit difficult
at the moment.
When Italy went from the lira
to the euro,
a lot of people became poorer,
especially those on salaries.
It was like salaries were halved.
People with their own businesses
felt it a bit less,
because if my costs go up,
I increase prices.
There's a Chinese proverb,
"When the water rises
so does the boat."
The boat floats.
If the water rises, so does the boat.
Mao for me is a great character.
There was nobody like him anywhere.
First he was a great writer,
a great poet.
As President of China,
he thought only of the Chinese.
This is the truth!
I find the man fascinating.
Are you photographing everything?
He's taking a picture of us.
People always say,
"What a lovely couple!"
This is the most beautiful square
in Europe, let's say.
Because this isn't a park,
it's a square, Piazza Vittorio.
Tell me where you can find a square
this size.
If they looked after it a bit better,
it would be really wonderful.
I've been here for 40 years.
It was different
when there was the market,
but the market
wasn't properly cared for either.
Then afterwards we thought we were,
I don't know, a lovely neighbourhood,
instead it went from bad to worse.
There used to be a toilet.
They removed that
and now there's an open-air bathroom.
Everyone is...
Now it's a mess, and there are all
these people with their faces hidden.
All these Muslims with their faces
covered, and we don't like that.
We don't like that.
A headscarf is OK, but
all covered up, no, that's not OK.
I don't like that.
There aren't any problems because
they're good hard-working, but...
We're just not happy with
these drunks, but we avoid them.
As soon as we see something wrong,
we move to avoid...
We make a mess, we can't deny it
and say we don't, but...
but we pay all sorts of taxes,
but everything's a mess here.
There used to be gardeners
but they're gone now.
It's not good, it's not good.
You can't do that in Italy.
We've no idea
what the hell they want.
There was never enough money,
so what there is we'll make do with.
Well, I like Rome.
I never liked the place
where I was born.
I like Rome, and so what?
Do you have to be
from rome to like rome
It used to be really beautiful...
Now it's disgusting.
There was a fountain down there
that was all lit up,
then there was a caf with an
orchestra and singers in the evening.
Now there's nothing!
What's changed?
These other people here...
They've taken over the square,
so they have.
So...
I'm drunk on the sun
I'm drunk on the sea
I'm drunk on the sun
I'm drunk on you
My hands are trembling
and you want to know why
I'm drunk on the sun
I'm drunk on you!
Thank you.
Whoever eats of this bread
will have eternal life.
And the bread I give you is my flesh
for the life of the world.
I've lived here since '56.
I've been in Rome since '56.
And here since '63.
The same as ever. It wasn't
maintained the way it is now,
that's for sure.
I'm talking about years and years
ago,
when you worked more after dinner
than during the day.
It was full of people.
Hey, Mustapha!
My name is Mustapha.
Hello, Mustapha.
Hello.
In Italian!
I've been in Italy 12 years!
I'm from Senegal.
Since 2004.
I started working here in 2006.
I always say it's destiny.
I was looking for work one day
and a friend of mine told me
about the lady here, so I came.
The first day it was a bit weird
for me because it was all new to me.
But since I had a bit of life
experience, I adapted quite easily,
with her help.
After so many years in the business,
she gave me advice which I took.
For me it's something more profound.
It depends on the situation
in the country.
Because before I came here
in about 2004,
it was easy to find certain types
of work.
But as time went on,
if you look around,
you'll see that these types of jobs
which were for immigrants
are now being done by Italians.
So it becomes harder for immigrants
to find work.
This is also a result of the flux
of immigrants coming recently.
It's not the way it used to be.
Before, the immigrants were better
educated and brought something,
but now most of them come
from villages or that sort of place,
so it's difficult
for these immigrants to integrate.
For example, it takes at least
10, 15 years to learn the language.
I'm better off here
in this neighbourhood.
Italians are nice people. If you
don't have papers, it's a problem.
If you have the right papers,
there are no problems.
I'm here from 8am till 10pm.
I'm always working.
Now we're in Ramadan.
18 days have passed already.
Near Piazza Vittorio,
there are four mosques.
Thank you.
I'm from Bangladesh.
I came here eight years ago.
I came here to work,
first as a student,
now I have a general store.
Well, work's OK. It's not fantastic
and it's not terrible!
My family, my son...
my father and mother
are in Bangladesh.
- Do you go and see them sometimes?
- Not yet, no.
In Bangladesh
there are political problems.
I come from Moldavia.
I came to Italy 16 years ago.
At the time, because of perestroika,
lots of people were unemployed,
and we came here looking for work.
I came 16 years ago...
..and I worked as a maid
for a family.
When I came at first, it took me
about a month to find a job.
After a month, I found a job
and I've been working here since.
I was lucky, because I was here and
they were in Moldavia on their own.
They started their studies.
My oldest daughter studied journalism
at college
and started working in radio,
despite being on her own there.
Then, gradually, Cristina started,
she studied there,
she went to high school.
Eventually she said, "Mum,
I want to come to Italy with you."
So I started all the procedures
for her to be able to come legally.
She came to study in Italy
and so we keep each other company.
I've worked hard and honestly
all these years.
I didn't have any holidays,
no Christmas or Easter...
I worked all the time.
Now, despite everything, I'm very
happy with both my daughters.
My oldest has two children, a boy
and a girl. I'm very happy with them.
They have a lovely family and a
beautiful house, they're really fine.
Cristina has a beautiful daughter.
Whenever I have a day off
I come to see her.
I can't wait to see her.
I'm very happy despite being far
from home and my brothers.
Well, that's all right,
what can you do? That's life.
My face is all...