Comrades
Young Italian leftists try to breathe life into an ossified communist milieu.
A surprising sketch of a generation of idealists thwarted by political inertia. The protagonists of Joanna Janikowska’s film live in Bologna, a city steeped in left-wing tradition. Demonstrations, tear gas, and clashes with the police are part of their daily lives. Each of them is fed up with the existing order: social and economic inequalities, the rise of the right, and dwindling opportunities. Seeking action, they join the communist party, long associated in Italy with an authentic leftist ethos. But is a legacy of radicalism enough to confront today’s challenges? The party, dominated by comrades in their sixties, struggles to keep pace with the rapidly shifting landscape, and for many of their peers, “resistance” is reduced to singing communist anthems and passing around joints. What would a revolution look like today? Is there still room for socialism in the age of social media?