Il mare e la torta

It is not inconceivable that a film about Sicily will have il mare (the sea) in its title, but why should it have la torta (the cake)? Yet this slightly cryptic title leads us straight into the world of Honetschläger. A world that is playful and cheerfully erudite and that places the so-called important and unimportant side-by-side without concern. With his undogmatic, imaginative and humorous essay (if that is the right word; it certainly isn't documentary or fiction), Honetschläger has already made a challenging film about Japan (l+r) and now he turns to a culture a little closer to home. It is just like Honetschläger to be of the opinion that the great Goethe wrote the most boring stories ever about Sicily, and yet to go on to allow the old German master to give him a guided tour. This is not a film about the Mafia, is written on a sign, but immediately afterwards, the film maker allows himself to have an audience with the notorious Mafia photographer Letizia Battaglia. A wayward film about Sicily should avoid the Etna, but Honetschläger immediately gives the volcano a musical leading role with the cellist Giovanni Sollima on its flank. Of course the film maker is aware of the topical nature of the old traces of Islam on Sicily, but not even that leads him to make his tone any heavier. He is interested in the profundity of lightness and the self evident nature of originality. (GjZ)