"Tanti Beddi Cosi" ("Many Beautiful Things") is the Sicilian expression used to wish people the best of things. "Many beautiful things" are what entered actor Vincent Schiavelli's life when he chose to change his residence to the mountain village of his ancestors. He is known for his roles in Ghost by Jerry Zucker, and in One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, Taking Off, and Amadeus, all by Milos Forman. The documentary explores Schiavelli's surprising return to Polizzi Generosa, a place he only knew from tales told by his grandfather, who had been a master chef at a local aristocrat's household. Schiavelli grew up in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn, on streets full of Sicilian immigrants, many from his grandfather's village. The film reconstructs the major events in the actor's relationship with Polizzi Generosa, a city-state in the Madonie mountains, historically important because of its strategic location at the hub of the most important Sicilian junctions, north/south and east/west axis. This story is told through interviews of the actor's closest friends in the village, people who were changed by him: Nino Gianfisco, Renata Pucci di Benisichi, Santo Lipani, Salvo Cuccia, Katia Vitale and Mimmo Cuticchio. It is a journey inside Schiavelli's world - his private, public and artistic life. The interviewees are witnesses to a story that unexpectedly happened to them. Their words, together with the archive material, paint an unforgettable portrait of the actor from his first arrival to Sicily until his death and burial in the village on December 26th 2005.
Highly recognizable actor-writer Brooklyn-born Vincent Schiavelli (One flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Amadeus) travels to the Sicilian mountain village of his ancestors where his grandfather had been a cook. Through recipes, stories and animated interviews with his closest friends, viewers discover the city-state of Polizzi Generosa, whose emigrant community established itself in Brooklyn where many still live. Schiavelli even wrote a book - 'Brucculinu, America.' What draws the actor to Polizzi whose remarkable history and the nature of its people, granted untold freedom by a succession of kings, redounds through the ages in their creativity? Martin Scorsese's people come from here as does Dolce of Dolce-Gabbana. This is a compelling film for residents of Brooklyn and everywhere.
This documentary is about a film actor and his attempt to add meaning to his life by returning to the village of his ancestors that he grew up hearing about in Brooklyn from his grandfather. In the process, he enriches the lives of those around him, as they all freely attest in this cinematic montage of interviews, beautiful landscapes and haunting music.
The actor is the highly recognizable Vincent Schiavelli. The village is the historically significant mountain city-state of Polizzi Generosa, named La Generosa in the 12th century by Frederick II, the last Holy Roman Emperor, who adopted the city, granting its inhabitants untold freedoms that redound through history in the creativity of its people. Martin Scorseses parents come from this town, as does the Dolce of Dolce and Gabbana.
Schiavelli appeared in "One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest", "Amadeus", "Ghost", and many other films. Clips from "Cuckoos Nest" and "Amadeus" appear in the film. We see actors Jack Nicholson and Schiavellis close friend, Danny Devito. We learn that Schiavelli was a favorite actor of director Milos Forman. We see a still of director Martin Scorsese. It is rumored that Schiavelli was spearheading a movement to revive Polizzi Generosa as a cultural center and that he intended cinema to be his vehicle.
This effort was cut short by his untimely death. He is buried in Polizzi. But the film is about his life and about how he affected the lives of others, as they repeatedly tell us, simply by being himself.
Schiavelli wrote two books both combinations of stories and recipes. The food of Sicily is central to both of these books and to the film. The first book, Many Beautiful Things, is the title of the film. This is the translation of the old Sicilian salutation "Tanti Beddi Cosi" which wishes on the recipient many beautiful things. This is what Vincent found in Polizzi, driven by the memories planted by his grandfather in Brooklyn, who had been a cook for noble families in Polizzi, and what Vincent embodied by his nature.
The second book, "Brucculinu, America" is about the Brooklyn neighborhood where he grew up, on blocks inhabited by immigrants from Polizzi Generosa. He talks about this neighborhood at length in the film. The translator of "Brucculinu, America" is one of the Sicilian interviewees. Her characterizations of Vincent, the book, the living history of Polizzi Generosa, and of things as much a fabric of life in the village as the fog and how it sets in are full of accuracy and poetry.
The sounds of the Sicilian language, a separate language that pre-dates Italian, gives us a feeling for the ancient history of Sicily, when it was Greek and Carthaginian, and down through the ages Roman, Arabic, Norman, French, Spanish, and finally, Italian but always separate always occupied, never conquered what has been called that America of antiquity. This comes through; this is what Vincent wanted everyone to feel, and we do.
