Translated by Kirstin Donoghue
“Did you know that one quarter of marine species reproduce in the reef? . Hey, I’m starting to like this place”
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The possibility that this joke did not make you laugh is very high: it sounds out of place, it is interesting to debase the first sentence when done so by the billionaire producers of the likes of Avatar.
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What would you think, then, if this phrase was delivered by a marine animal in a scientific documentary with an endless budget? Probably the thought of all those who went to the cinema to see Oceans 3D by Jacques Cousteau, and are faced with a pantomime narrated by Aldo, Giovanni e Giacomo, a mere parody of a movie created to amaze yes, but also to inform and educate.
Not that this is a novelty to the Italian: The enormous success of March of the Penguins, a product scientifically valid, but our local version spoiled by intrusive and inappropriate dubbing (“Strong, these penguins!) Fiorello . Neither problem is limited to niche docufilm motivated science: for example, still fresh in our memory is the fate of Robots. It seems, then, that the basic idea is that only children can be entertained in this way (“We made this choice so that in the movie there were no moments of boredom for the children” is Giacomo Poretti’s justification), and that adults are attracted only by the famous name on the poster. This logic is certainly debatable, but subject to the laws of the market, it has to justify the choice.
If the “only” damage a cartoon for kids faces is poor dubbing – in the case of a work like Oceans 3D the question is even more complex. Not only the quality of the product is lost, but the spirit also. Documentaries of this kind have a dual purpose: first to show spectacular images (and therefore be entertaining) as any other Hollywood product, the second to contain academic content little known, to inform, educate and potentially push viewers to ‘action in favor of our planet’.
All this is lost by the axe wielded by the trivialization of Italian producers, often with the blessing (God knows how sincere) of the original directors. Let us say it is a shame: it is possible that in Italy that there is no other way of talking about nature except by turning it into a joke?
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Gabriele Ferrari
Italian
