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Inspector Montalbano
Il Commissario Montalbano
1999 · TV series · 100 min episodes · 15 seasons
Created by Andrea Camilleri
ActionAdventureCrimeDramaMystery
Inspector Montalbano is an Italian television series produced and broadcast by RAI since 1999, based on the detective novels of Andrea Camilleri. The protagonist is Commissario Salvo Montalbano, and the stories are set in the imaginary town of Vigata, Sicily. In 2012 the series generated a prequel, Il giovane Montalbano.
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3 comments on Hacker News
Any discussion about hard work should have a mention of "in praise of idleness" [0].
In addition to that, let me tell you this.
The famous writer Andrea Camilleri [1] (author of Inspector Montalbano, an Italian TV series which became an international success [2]), in an interview years ago recalled when as a kid, spending Summers in his native Sicily would entail things like spitting on a coin and waiting for hours until a fly would get stuck in the saliva - essentially, being idle.
And this idleness, in his view, had a tremendous value.
Praise hard work, sure. But don't think that you can escape the big questions about life, or that hard work is the only way to achieve greatness.
[0]: https://harpers.org/archive/1932/10/in-praise-of-idleness/
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrea_Camilleri
[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inspector_Montalbano_(TV_series)
In long-form television (or, some of these may have been created as films, a distinction in some European media that seems to depend in part on schedule and budget), I've been quite enjoying Il commissario Montalbano:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inspector_Montalbano_%28TV_series%29
You will like these if you enjoy quieter productions that depend on subtleties. And if you enjoy works that are both artistic (think about the state of the filmed street-scapes) and that seek to imbue local flavor.
Also, depending on where you get them from, the subtitles may not accurately convey some of the language and subtleties.
P.S. RAI subsequently launched a "prequel" series, The Young Montalbano. I haven't seen it in a while. It's ok, I guess, but I prefer the original.
I suggest the films of Nanni Moretti and Paolo Sorrentino (mentioned in the article).
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0604335/ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0815204/
Io Sono Li is also a good, rather recent film. For documentaries, try Videocracy and Women Bodies (aka Il Corpo Delle Donne), the latter of which is on Youtube. BBC did a series called Italy Unpacked where two guys travel around Italy experiencing its cuisine. Italy, Love it or Leave it is on my list of documentaries to see but I have yet to find it available somewhere. As for TV, try Gomorra La Serie and/or Inspector Montalbano.