A história de Domenico Scandella, mais conhecido como Menocchio, um moleiro da região do Friuli, Itália, que afrontou o tribunal da Santa Inquisição no século XVI.

La straordinaria storia di Domenico Scandella detto Menocchio, mugnaio che alla fine del Cinquecento affrontò il tribunale della Santa Inquisizione difendendo le proprie teorie eretiche sulla natura di Dio e sulla Chiesa di Roma. Fonte: Mymovie.it

Competing in Locarno with his fourth film Menocchio, Alberto Fasulo’s ideas on cinema are very clear. Menocchio was a miller who was accused of heresy in the darkest years of the Counter-Reform. “Menocchio was a free man, he had a very precise vision of the world. He used to say that it doesn’t make any sense that the Church is divided between Lutherans and those faithful to the Pope, because God lives in the people and in all the things we see. And even more than that, he thought that the Pope and the bishops could be wrong as they are just men like us. I think that especially this last statement proved fateful to him. The Church was afraid of all that could undermine its credibility and didn’t hesitate in suppressing with extreme harshness all those who didn’t abide by the single mindset of the time.”
From this perspective, Menocchio is a film set in the XVI century, but still relevant today: the intolerance, the exercise of power as terror. “Sure, my film can also be interpreted this way. Everyone can have his own opinion. I think that the Pope today says things that are not so different from what this miller used to say centuries ago. Back in the day they were heresies, while today these sentences can be easily pronounced by Church authorities, too. Luckily times change: sometimes for better, sometimes for worse.” FONTE: cinecitta.com