What do the words, such as: a bee, kindness, radiates, educator, intelligent, simplicity, pearl, an orphan, a hero, noble, versatile, diligent, self-sacrifice, aristocracy, an old oak, faithful, a priest, a writer, a musician – that people say in Georgian or Italian at the beginning of this film have in common?
While hearing each word, we can see its printed version and its Italian or Georgian translation from the dictionary, which suddenly turns into a scrap of paper and assumes the form of a human silhouette in an animated way.
In the end, a man assembled with words will come alive, move and become a real person before our eyes. The title of the film appears on the screen: "Man of His Word" (2018, idea, screenplay, direction – Lela Beridze).
A man of his word, is Don Luigi Mantovani, an almost 90-year-old priest of the Catholic Church in Kutaisi, West Georgia, where he has been living and working for 20 years.
The audience can see how an attractive old man in a black beret walks in the rooms and closes the doors everywhere – he is sensitive to cold and is especially afraid of the draught, and the wind is frequent in Kutaisi.
"When I came to Georgia, I was very lucky, because the sun shone for 5 months, not a single drop of rain fell from the sky. There was no electricity, but the sun warmed us. I basked in the sun like a cat and worked," says Don Luigi.
He works really hard. He is a linguist, he has compiled Georgian-Italian and Italian-Georgian dictionaries; Georgian grammar guide for Italians; he is the author of the Georgian-Latin dictionary, which includes about 50,000 words and is considered one of the most complete and richest dictionaries. In addition, father Luigi holds the title of honorary doctor of Akaki Tsereteli State University of Kutaisi. He is fluent in several languages: Latin, Greek, Italian, French, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian and Georgian. He compares each selected word to each other in these nine languages.
He started studying Georgian at the University of Verona, Italy, where the director of this film, Lela Beridze, helped him. Lela Beridze's first profession is philology (she studied film directing at the Berlin Cinema and Television Academy). Her friendship and cooperation with the hero of this film began then – while studying the Georgian language.
Don Luigi likes the Georgian language: "It's beautiful, but difficult," he says. He wonders at every word, looks it up in the dictionary, compares it with others... He clearly loves this job. "At least for 14 years, from morning to evening, I would sit and search for words and their meanings." He chose such a life.
The viewer becomes a witness, or rather, a participant in the main character’s everyday life.
This impression is created by the tempo-rhythm of the film, thoughtful pauses. The film is a documentary, but you watch it with the interest characteristic of a feature film.
Such an artistic insert enters the film: the students use Don Luigi's works in the library. One boy, Iveri, boast in front of the girls – I know the author of this book. The girls don't believe and the boy promises – if you want, I will introduce him to you too. In the course of the film, we can see how Iveri, with his friend, is looking for Don Luigi's address and the way to get to him, in order to get to know him first and then ask him to bring the girls to him. Finally, she gets to Don Luigi and honestly explains his situation, telling him that he promised the girls and he doesn't want to break his word. The man of his word will like it, he will invite the girls and presents the boy with his book. Then he thinks for a long time about the word, its meaning: "A word is not an action, but at your word I will let down the nets.” Peter said, right? That is, "I trust you, I believe in you." The word becomes an expression of man, equal to man. I trust you, your word"...
The young characters’ presence in the storyline suggests that Don Luigi's work is of future importance to people of all faiths.
The film has a very interesting form – it is a kind of mini-dictionary about Don Luigi, i.e. this film is a dictionary about the author of dictionaries, because by shedding light on important words for the main character's life and focusing on them, we get to know Don Luigi’s personality and work.
This is a true film, it doesn't embellish anything, it eliminates all pathos, which adds lightness to the narrative and sympathy to the main character. The narration style, method, image, sound, in general, the cinematic language is in harmony with the theme of the film, as well as with the creative individuality of its author, Lela Beridze.
In general, this is a film-meditation, delving into the world of words. The author suggests that during the course of the film, we should live, think and search like the main hero.
The main hero chose two words to describe his life: slave and lamb. "A slave – to bring benefits and a lamb – to be kind, to sympathize with others," says Don Luigi.
In the film, a friend describes him as "a cricket squeezed into its den." He really doesn't leave his home anymore – the building of the Catholic mission. We don't see him in the street, only on the balcony, basking in the sun. It is true that he has left his youth behind, but he is still young, even childishly interested, trouble-free and curious in his work.
The carefully chosen title is the dramatic axis of the film. On the one hand, a man of his words in the Georgian language is said to be a person who fulfills his promises, serves the truth, and on the other hand, the main character is a person who searches for words, studies, loves them, compiles dictionaries and stores words in them. He approaches this work as a mission. He is also a missionary in this regard and, at the same time, religious missionary work is his job – he is a Catholic priest. Thus, "man of his word" in this case also implies the concept: "man of God." The unity of all this is Don Luigi – the main character of the film.
It should be noted that the historical value of the film is added to its artistic value. Let's imagine for a moment that in the 16th and 17th centuries it was possible to make a film about the Italian missionaries working at that time – Stefano Paolini, Francesco Maria Maggio and others. These people left us the first "Italian-Georgian dictionary," "Grammar of the Georgian language." It is Don Luigi who continues their path, and that is why this film has great significance for the cultures of both nations.
Language is a living organism, constantly renewing, constantly modern. "We inherited the language from the past. Language is nothing but the past transformed into the present," says Don Luigi.
P.S. The main character of the film is still in good spirits, still in Kutaisi and still continues his work.
Ketevan Pataraia
