The Nibbio: review of the film with Claudio Santamaria on Nicola Calipari

Twenty years have passed since the death of Nicola Calipari And at the cinema it arrives The Nibbiothe film that not only tells of the mission that the high manager of Sismi followed to proceed with the liberation of the journalist Giuliana Sgrenabut of the man behind it. Not of the secret agent, of the official faithful to the state who recognized the value with which he then faced his profession. But Rosa Maria Ville’s husband, still capable of making her laugh after years of marriage. The father of Silvia and Filippo, who although far away did not stop thinking about them. The person full of humor even when everything ended up going wrong, but capable of aiming for the result without even once so. The man who believed in justice, even before the spy who chased her. And who sacrificed his life doing exactly what he was so admired for.

Between cinema and espionage: history and genre of The Nibbio

The Nibbio It is the reconstruction of the mission and the murder of Calipari, which remained after years still without guilty, albeit with a finale that takes a clear position on the events that have happened and on which the title tries to go into it without too many embroidery. Not when it comes to the event itself, of the Sgrena rescue operation, looking for a re -proposal of the linear event, inside a precise structure, dictated by the writing of the screenwriter Sandro Petraglia. A pen that explored the political side of Italian cinema. And, for this reason, he set aside him for the work directed by Alessandro Tondatrying to transpare the person behind the authority; Who was Nicola outside his work and how, in turn, the latter was influenced by the correctness and trust he showed even outside his office.

A dedication that in 2005 led him to recover personally The journalist de The manifesto – interpreted by Sonia Bergamasco – bringing The Nibbio The idea of ​​an imaginary that goes back and forth between Italy and Baghdad, influencing the staging and the very tone of the film, also supported by the direction of Tonda.

Since its initial scene it is clear that the work has devoted itself to gender cinema, but not wanting to imitate often US products that have well -fixed codes when it comes to scenarios of Fight, war, action and espionage. A reinterpretation that does not want to diminish or empty the rhythm and staging of the aforementioned style of reference, but to make it very close to a local panorama, so as to be together something affordable, but also of unusual, new. Not original in large terms, but certainly a particularity in this 2025 recently started, which will hardly see another similar film to be combined with the film.

Claudio Santamaria, the lost kilos and the private life of Nicola Calipari

An initiative that met the enthusiasm of Alessandro Tonda and the participation and body participation of the protagonist Claudio Santamaria. Above all body. Lost twelve kilos And apply dark lenses to cover his distinguishable clear eyes, the actor has tried to express Nicola Calipari’s prowess not through the physical presence, but with the strength and determination of man’s decisions and convictions. Make sure it was only through these specific characteristics that the stature of the protagonist passed. Make it physically less impressive, to return that sense of responsibility through the charge it held and did not pull back in holding.

And, in addition to the relief and positioning in his work, of Santamaria convinces the daily life he puts in the scenes with Anna Ferzetti in the role of his wife Rosa. Not of particular emotion, with a scripture of writing even simple and obvious for humanize the characterbut in any case a meeting between the two interpreters who serves to revive man beyond the assignments and duty. Of the common life he loved and that counterbalances the sequences of captivity and exchange of information on the streets of Iraq.

Telling about a personality of our institutions that would never have wanted to be remembered as a hero, but only as those who do their duty, The Nibbio reports the figure of a man we have lost for the meaning he gave to his job. And above all, the importance that gave life and custody, also and above all of others.