Fine pena mai

It is Christmas, and the weather on the island of Elba is fine. But behind the prison bars, nothing has changed for the inmates of Porto Azzurro, or so little… The normal prison regulations in Porto Azzurro seem bearable enough : they allow for visits, meetings and discussions, eating together and artistic activities ; the prison wardens, though serious, are understanding. But for those who are serving life sentences, mainly the political prisoners, their loss of freedom is coupled with complete loss of hope. For them, periods of leave, when they spend several weeks with their families, are like unbearable bouts of moral torture, as returning to “normal” life only serves to accentuate the dramatic realisation that they will never be free. In spite of everything, recent changes in criminal law vouch for a more open-minded attitude to incarceration in the near future, and the men we see in the film are relearning how to dream. To dream, for example, of leaving the island of Elba to live alone in a hut in the Puglia region.