The GRA (Grande Raccordo Anulare) is the ring road around Rome. With this portrait of the périphérique of the eternal city, Gianfranco Rosi (at IFFR in 2011 with the frightening El Sicario Room 164) shows a world that is very distant from la dolce vita. The observations, meticulously prepared by Rosi, show lives that have come to a halt on the fringes of a society that races on. They seem touching, miraculous and alienating. A river of cars flows continuously past grazing sheep. The last eel fisherman of the Tiber River works on stoically. An ambulance man braves night-time traffic on his way to heart attacks and accidents. A poverty-stricken nobleman smokes a cigar in the bath. In a car park, old Roman whores wait for customers. And while the inhabitants of a tenement block are amazed by their view, a tree surgeon battles voracious beetles. Sacro GRA was the first documentary ever to win the Golden Lion for Best Film at Venice.
