Balordi

The heart of the charming Tuscan landscape is home to one of the best guarded prisons in Italy. This fortress in Volterra is also the decor of the performance of Bertolt Brecht's Dreigroschenoper, put on by the inmates themselves. These tattooed, muscular men exhibit a completely different side of themselves when running around the theatre like puppies. For quite some time, it seems as if we are watching two different documentaries: one about hard prison life, and the other about frolicsome actors in eccentric plumage. But gradually the two melt together: one prisoner talks about Kalashnikovs while he is waiting to jump onto the stage, his thick makeup already applied. Stories about the isolation cell, where one of them from pure misery made friends with a rat, are alternated with images of the rehearsals, the singing of critical songs and practising erotic dance steps. Meanwhile, we learn more about their background. One convict already had a gun when he was a 14-year-old boy in the slums of Palermo. Another always dreamt of joining the Mafia or becoming a doctor. Now that they are all in the same boat, these former street urchins have combined forces. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)