Constanza, renting her apartment, off-the-books, out to an Argentine, Cecilia, is unable to collect her rent - an ordinary story in Italy. She complains to the portiere who tells her this happens everyday. She goes out and finds her motorino stolen. Lucia, taking pictures of ordinary buildings because no one documents them and should they be blown up in a bombing there will be no record of them, just as there are no records of ordinary people. Constanza goes to have Cecilia's eletricity cut off and is told by the electrician how no one understands how the world is put together, not even a simple thing like turning on a light. Cecilia's boyfriend, high up on a construction crane bemoans his imminent unemployment, and bicycling to the ugly memorial commerating Pir Paolo Pasolini's death, he cries out that Pier Paolo had foreseen all of this. Constanza goes to see a lawyer with her friend Lucia, and after calling the office of the police and making an arrangement the lawyer explains there is always a way out, and he pulls a gun from his desk and shoots himself. The Portier flies his model airplane, emblem of his freedom; a bomb explodes in the distance and his plane crashes. All together Constanza and Lucia and Cecilia celebrate a new understanding as the lights and water return. A bomb explodes.
Uno a te is a highly fragmented political parable rooted in the realities of Italy, 1994, a time when Mafia bombs were used to blunt an investigation by State authorities, killing among others 2 major prosecutors (Falcone and Borsellino), while in the North the Mani-Pulite (Clean Hands) investigation resulted in the suicides of major business figures, and the Italians found excuses for themselves in the line, "but everybody does it." Uno a te notes that the high-level corruption prevalent in Italy is the natural product of the low level cheating and corruption of everyday life in Italy.
1994 | Rome, Italy 35mm | Color | Sound | 87 minutes
Screenwriters: Jon Jost & Edoardo Albinati
Director: Jon Jost
Cinematographer: Jon Jost
Producer: Enzo Porcelli & Anna Albanese - ALIA FILM, Roma
Editor: Benni Atria
Music: Jon A. English
Musical Director/Supervisor: Theo Eshutu
With: Eliana Miglio, Vittoria Arenillas, Pier Paolo Capponi, Daniele Formica, Lucia Gardin, Nicola Pistoia, Lino Salemme
Nomination for the Crystal Globe Award at Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, 1995
Premiered at Venice Film Festival, 1995
