(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
In an isolated house in the middle of a Sicilian nature reserve, Valentina, who is in her twenties, lives with her parents – either to care for them in their increasing loneliness and failing health, or because she hasn't gathered the courage to move out, maybe get married and establish their own life. This almost somewhat predictable archetypal family situation has an ambiguity to the last with its fine details, which slowly unfolds through Francesca Scalisi's intimate documentary film Valentina and the MUOSters. The family dynamic leads us to conclude that nothing has changed for many decades in the Sicilian hinterland. The exception is a flashing and noisy NATO MUOS (Mobile User Objective System) ground station near the town of Niscemi. It dominates the landscape, regardless of the locals' protests against the potential threats it represents.
Peripheral activism
Despite the title, the activism and examination of the NATO base's impact on the local community play a fairly peripheral role in the film. It permeates the film through short and self-contained scenes: the family watches TV distractedly when the news bombastically mentions MUOS; American soldiers appear in silhouette in long takes as Valentina drives her father around; and the father's doctor mentions that the electromagnetic waves from the radio transmitters are very likely affecting his pacemaker, contributing to the patient's health problems.
A protest scene with an anti-imperialist speech in voiceover is included, but more information about when the base was created, how justified it is, the concern that this is harmful technology, and whether continued protests have any chance of success – is conspicuously absent. Perhaps this is a conscious choice on the part of the filmmaker to limit us to the people of the documentary, but it still has the disadvantage that it makes all their worried thoughts equally (un)plausible – such as, for example, the concern that society could be drawn into Russia's potential retaliation against NATO, given that MUOS surveillance is now being used to collect data on the invasion of Ukraine. It may well be that this threat perception is implausible. Many panic reactions came in the region as the entire continent was shocked to see the ruthlessness of the Russian army being used in Europe. But the fact that potential risks have not been highlighted for a long time (since the Niscemi MUOS was inaugurated in 2012) lends sufficient weight to local people's anger at being overlooked.
Nothing has changed for many decades in the Sicilian hinterland
Valentine's family
Valentina's family is a typical vulnerable victim of globalization. It is surely a worthy task for art documentaries to arouse empathy for those who are overlooked, who have neither the status nor the glamorous presence to be given a more prominent role in our audiovisual field. The family portrait that emerges is tender and touching. The young woman's father is a former driving instructor who today is too ill to drive, but who is nevertheless too self-willed to let his daughter take over the responsibility for driving. Their driving lessons are mostly an exercise in condescension, with the occasional instructor tip. Valentina's mother is a stay-at-home mom, and if she were to start working again, she would have no other career options than taking care of the elderly for little money and a lot of back pain. Valentina's sister, who during a brief family visit is allowed to appear as the personification of modest success, encourages her to concentrate more on her own needs than her parents' and gently teases her about her low self-esteem.
Even before it comes up in the dialogues, we sense why it is difficult for the family to move, despite the ominous military base in the neighborhood. The mother's reasons – that they cannot afford to move, that this is their home, and that the NATO soldiers are thus the invaders, sound either like reconstructed dialogue (on the filmmaker's signal to let the audience clearly know where they stand) or like obsessions from powerless individuals – who can at best come to terms with their situation by ritually repeating their point of view. The whole family seems unable to move, but Valentina is young enough to establish a new life. Soon her presence in the house will only be remembered by the crocheted flowers she has made with great skill and love.
Balance between the harsh tones
The tone of the film is mostly poetic, and perhaps the most consistent part of the documentary – Valentina's slow farewell to the lifestyle she knew, so to speak. Although some of the points in the film are perhaps a little too explicit – about MUOS or the degrading reflexes of the parents, the immersive Sicilian nature reserve balances the harsher tones. The oaks, the fauna and the soft light can in themselves maintain the illusion that nothing needs to change – until it does.
The film was shown at the festivals DOKLeipzig
and IDFA in autumn.
