L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, AUGUST 4, 2016 www.italoamericano.org 11 L'Italo-Americano The Family Whistle, or how the Coppolas Came to America SIMONE SANNIO B ack in 1904 a poor young m a n b y t h e n a m e o f Agostino Coppola left his Southern Italian hometown of Bernalda for good. Starting from this small village near Matera, in the Basilicata region, he went on to cross the Atlantic and to seek fortune in America. Today, a century later, Agostino's descen- dants constitute one of the most influential families ever in the film industry, thus bringing their ancestor's journey to comple- t i o n , h a v i n g c o n q u e r e d t h e United States thanks to art. This is the story reconstruct- e d b y t h e B e r n a l d e s e a c t o r Michele Russo in his recent doc- umentary The Family Whistle. Mr. Russo, who also starred in The Godfather Part III and in Giuseppe Tornatore's Baarìa, is a distant cousin to the famed director Francis Ford Coppola. It w a s a f e w y e a r s a g o w h e n , telling stories about their family and drinking wine together, the two of them came up with the idea of making a film out of the Coppolas' fascinating history: as a matter of fact, the whole story resembled a fairy tale in some ways, with its plot full of char- acters and many sub-lines, but it also spoke about the too often forgotten millions of people who were forced to leave Italy out of poverty between the 19 th and 20 th centuries. Eventually, it was Russo who managed to real- ize this beautiful portrait of the C o p p o l a f a m i l y , r e c e n t l y s c r e e n e d a t B o l o g n a ' s " I l Cinema Ritrovato", after being p r e m i e r e d a t t h e B o s t o n I n t e r n a t i o n a l F i l m F e s t i v a l (where it won a prize) and at Cannes. Among the intertwined sto- ries that encompass Russo's years-long reconstruction of the Coppola family tree, the crucial one is probably that of Francis' g r a n d f a t h e r , t h e p a t r i a r c h Agostino, who was known in his hometown as "Zumbabalcone" ("jump the balcony") because, as a renowned ladies' man, he used to spend the nights visiting his lovers by jumping from bal- cony to balcony. But most of all, Agostino is remembered as a creative, determined person, as demonstrated by his apprentice- s h i p w i t h C i c c i o P a n i o , a n almost legendary local mechan- ic, and especially by his musical passion and ability in playing the mandolin. Sure enough, even after he decided to leave that town he always called "Bernalda bella", as if it was just one word, Agostino would often repeat to his sons in America: "Follow your path… but never lose the music inside you!". Many among the figures that populate the Coppola family tree are as picturesque as him: for example, Francis himself tells us a b o u t A g o s t i n o ' s m o t h e r , Filomena "Senza Naso" ("with- out nose"), thus called because they had to cut her nose off after she contracted an infection. But a s M r . R u s s o i n t e r v i e w s t h e more or less known living mem- bers of this family of filmmakers and musicians, great importance is given to the way in which Agostino managed to get his passion for art with him across t h e A t l a n t i c a n d t o p a s s i t – somehow untouched – to the next generations, along with his Italian roots and traditions. All of this is represented at best by the "family whistle" that gives this documentary its curi- ous title: as a matter of fact, each family in Bernalda was identi- fied, and still is identified to this day, by the use of a particular three-note whistle that discerns it from all the others, be it – from time to time – a warning mes- sage, a simple call to supper, and so on, depending on the pitch. Nowadays, it appears that this "family whistle", and the tradi- tional Italian musicality it repre- sents, was definitely part of the b a g g a g e t h a t A g o s t i n o h a d bequeathed to his sons. A brief look at the various Coppolas who became successful in the United States because of their musical talent confirms all of t h i s : A n t o n C o p p o l a , w h o m Francis calls "Uncle Kiki", is a celebrated opera conductor and c o m p o s e r , w h i l e C a r m i n e , Francis' own father, was also a noted composer who contributed original music to his son's best- known films. The field in which the name of this family would always be best remembered, though, is undoubtedly cinema. Starting from Francis Ford Coppola's worldwide-known masterpieces The Godfather and Apocalypse N o w , o n e m o v e s o n t o h i s nephew Nicolas Cage's brilliant acting career, and then to his daughter Sofia Coppola's suc- cess as a director, thus marking the third consecutive generation o f C o p p o l a s t o h a v e w o n a n Academy Award. Yet another i n d i c a t i o n o f h o w I t a l i a n Americans have contributed to the making of cinema history. What Russo ultimately wants to convey with the realization of this brilliant documentary is how t h e " f a m i l y w h i s t l e " o f t h e Coppolas has managed to sur- v i v e a l o n g l o n g w a y f r o m Bernalda. Since Agostino left t h a t t o w n w h e r e h i s m o s t f a m o u s d e s c e n d a n t , F r a n c i s Ford Coppola, has now bought t h e h i s t o r i c a l P a l a z z o Margherita, that whistle has never stopped blowing: on the contrary, it continues to be lis- t e n e d o n b o t h s i d e s o f t h e Atlantic in the achievement of this talented Italian American family. LIFE PEOPLE MOVIES MUSIC BOOKS Francis Ford Coppola with his daughter, director Sofia Coppola

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