Provo, Utah (April 1, 2014)—At the Tuesday Lecture, Cinzia Noble, a teaching professor for the Italian department, began by asking the audience “How would you describe the color of the sky to someone who has been blind since birth?” This is exactly what young Mirco does in Rosso Come il Cielo, which translated means ‘Red Like the Sky.’ Based on the life of Mirco Mencacci, one of the most famous and talented sound editors in the Italian film industry, the film tells the story of Mirco’s struggle to cope with his blindness which was caused by an accident with an old rifle when he was 10 years old, although in Mencacci’s real life this accident took place when he has four years old.
At that time in Italy, blind children were considered to be ‘hopelessly handicapped’ and were not allowed to go to public schools. As a result, Mirco’s parents are forced to send Mirco to a boarding school for the blind. At first, Mirco refuses to fit in and seeks out the company of the only ‘normal’ child at the school—the daughter of the school janitor. Mirco also refuses to learn braille and his situation appears futile until he discovers an old tape recorder which he uses to cut and splice reels together to create fairy tales composed of sounds.
As Noble explained, Rosso Come il Cielo pays homage to the Italian Neorealist movement by using untrained actors and exposing social injustice. The 10 year old boys at the boarding school, who steal every scene, were chosen because of their real life blindness. The film manages to be bold and incriminating in its depiction of the segregation and discrimination of the blind, yet tender and sweet in its illustration of the young boys’ dreams and aspirations in spite of their blindness.
In a memorable scene, Mirco and his friends sneak out to the movie theater and are enthralled by the sweeping sounds of the movies, an art form which most consider to be primarily visual. Noble encouraged the audience to listen to the sounds of the film, even to close their eyes, in order to understand the experience of these courageous young boys.
–Ami Johanson B.A. Humanities ‘14