PINOCCHIO

Italy, 2020, 124 minutes, Colour.
Roberto Benigni.
Directed by Matteo Garrone.

For older audiences and for younger audiences who watch television or DVDs, Pinocchio is the character from Disney’s 1940s celebrated animation film (with its key song, When you wish upon a star, playing behind the beginning of every Disney program and its logo). Pinocchio is the wooden puppet, created by the carpenter, Gepetto, who encounters all kinds of adventures as he wants to become a human boy, famous for his nose getting longer every time he tells a lie. And, there is his advisor, Jiminy Cricket.

Italian audiences may be well familiar with the Disney version but, in the early 2000’s, there was a version with Roberto Benigni – which was not received well.

However, here is Roberto Benigni again, with a chance to show his comic talents as well as his capacity for pathos, playing the role of Gepetto. While that makes a lot of sense, it is a surprise, especially for serious film buffs and critics, that this version has been directed by Matteo Garrone, best known for his serious dramas and exposes of the Mafia, Gomorrah and, more recently, Dogman.

In many ways, this is a lavish production. It recreates an atmosphere of the 19th century, elaborate sets for a local village, homes, shops and a visiting circus of marionettes. It goes out into the countryside, explores a mansion, rounds up the lost boys and takes them to an island where they become donkeys, takes us to a farm, takes us into the sea. No question that a lot of detailed attention has been giving to sets, costumes and décor.

What needs to be said is that it is very, very Italian in its style, emotions, and more emotions. While an Italian sensibility will respond well, it may well be too much for audiences which with more restrained sensibilities who may feel it goes over the top many times in its action, in its dialogue and humour.

The main ingredients of the traditional story are certainly present – though the cricket advisor is rather more serious, no Jiminy Cricket from Disney. There is the young Princess who befriends Pinocchio. There are the comic villains of the piece, Fox and Cat, con artists with smooth tongues and no moral values. The master of the marionette circus is sympathetic as is a farmer later in the film where Pinocchio works the waterwheel to earn his living. The man who rounds up the boys with the pretense that they will find a land where they can play forever but who turns them into donkeys and sells them in the market is a dastardly type.

And, there are strange creatures, the other marionettes who come to life, the dowager who is also a large snail, the friendly tuna trapped in the shark.

So, in this context, what is Gepetto like? His rather like Roberto Benigni, poor, trying to persuade the locals to hire him for wood repairs, entranced by the idea of creating a puppet, of becoming a father figure, searching for his lost puppet.

And, main question, what is Pinocchio himself like. As regards the visuals, his wooden face, his limbs (carelessly burning of his legs with his feet in the fire), his clothes, he is believable given the context. But, he is continually wilful, easily led, truant going to the circus, on his adventures, deceived by Fox and Cat, charmed by the Princess but still walking away, with the lost boys, discovering how to earn his living on the farm, wanting some coins to recompense Gepetto, finally realising that Gepetto is a father figure.

One hopes that a wide audience will enjoy this re-telling of the story – but, there is the reserve of wondering how the Italian sensibility will travel worldwide.

1. The popularity of the story? Familiar? The books, the Disney film, the earlier Benigni film?

2. The work of the director, his insights into crime and the Mafia? Change of tone?

3. 19th century Italy, the settings, the atmosphere, the town, homes, shops, the circus of puppets? Moving to the countryside, forests, mountains, the sea, the island, the mansion? A fairytale world, Italian style? The musical score and themes?

4. The adaptation of the fairytale? The blend of the real and fantasy? Ge[etto, in the town, the circus coming, his idea about creating a puppet, the woodcarver and the moving block, giving it to Gepetto? The puppets, alive, a fantasy for all ages? The Princess, the lady snail, the death rabbits, the Fox and the Cat, the lost boys becoming donkeys, the market the donkeys, the owner, the talking tuna, the farmer? The range of characters and images?

5. Pinocchio Gepetto human, the make up, wooden, limbs, idiosyncrasies?

6. Gepetto, poor, hungry, offering to fixed tables, the gift of food, at home, the idea of the puppet, the magic wood, his sculpting? The torso, limbs? The coat from the bedspread?

7. Pinocchio, as a puppet, wooden, his face, eyes, limbs? Burning his legs in the fire? Wilful, anti-authority? The spelling book, going to school, rushing to the circus? His love for Gepetto, calling him Babbo, nevertheless leaving? The master of the circus, the other puppets welcoming him, benevolent master, sneezing freeing Pinocchio and giving him the
coins?

8. The cricket, his appearance, continued warnings and reappearance?

9. Pinocchio and his telling lies and his nose getting longer? The birds coming to peck the extra nose? The encounter with the Fox and the Cat? Sinister, their story, befriending Pinocchio, the lies, the tree giving money, greedy and having their nibbles, abandoning Pinocchio and letting him pay? Finding him, the burying of the coins and their disappearance? Their hanging him? The return, the Fox and his play, accusing the Cat? Pinocchio learning and rejecting them?

10. His wandering, the encounter with the princess, friendship with her, the matron and the snail, life at the mansion? Yet his going off, leaving the Princess, eventually returning, finding her older, nice, her love for him, playing and mischief? Yet leaving again?

11. The boy and tempting Pinocchio to go to the island for continual play? The master, there all turning into donkeys, the market, Pinocchio sold, the hard work, returning to normal and his escape?

12. Sympathetic farmer, the waterwheel and Pinocchio’s working, earning his keep, the money for Gepetto?

13. Into the sea, swallowed by the shark, the tuna and its friendliness, the chats? Finding Gepetto? With the fire, alive? Having searched the world? The decision to escape, Gepetto not swimming, Pinocchio saving him? The tuna the farewell?

14. The house in the countryside, his turning into a real boy, the support of the Princess? The happy ending?