I Bastardi di Pizzofalcone

Mythology goes to the movies

The word, pizzo, in Italian, can have many meanings. Two of those meanings are “peak” and “extortion payment.” In the series I watch, I Bastardi di Pizzofalcone, the pizzo is a double entendre: it means both peak, and it refers to a cop that the mafia is trying to extort/pizzo.

The cop's name is Giuseppe Lojacono, who is an inspector. He is transferred to the precinct in Pizzofalcone because he has been, informally, accused of covering for a mafia dude. Pizzofalcone, a real place in Naples, is to be closed down. Ergo, it is a death sentence for Lojacono’s career as a detective. Indeed, the precinct is where problem cops are sent because the city can be rid of them once it is shut down. But guess what, folks, a messy murder case lands on the precinct commissioner’s desk, and this group of misfits solves the murder. They then get a 6 months extension on their precinct. And their jobs.

This series is based on the novels of Maurizio de Giovanni. It is one of those procedural cop shows that I have a fondness for. There is also a comic book series based on the novels. De Giovanni also wrote the Commissario Ricciardi books. The Ricciardi books are noir, because the atmosphere of the story is dark and foreboding. Ricciardi sees ghosts. He's also desperately in love with his neighbor. And fascists underpin everything.

Needless to say, I am a Maurizio de Giovanni fan. Ditto Italian cop series in general. It is true, I am making plans to go to Italy next year. Naples now tops my list of places to visit.

Back to our program. What one sees in this series is the usual stuff one finds in cop shows world wide. (You can see my video here on my inclination to watch cop shows from Europe.) So far, I haven’t seen any cop shows from the East. I am surprised that the South Koreans haven’t produced a series yet. Or, perhaps they have, and the channels, Prime, Netflix, AppleTV, and the rest of them, haven’t picked them up yet.

Pizzofalcone’s attractions are twofold; the history of the area in Naples they work out of, and secondly, the group, aka the bastardi, themselves.

Naples has quite the history. Well, anywhere one goes in Italy its history hits you. Hard. Italy has a good three thousand years of recorded history. Now add into that another thousand years, or so, of archeological history. Therefore, Italy’s boot is a piece of real estate that is forever hounded by tourists and scholars. Italy now has internal tourist visas, or permits, to allow one into places like Venice, and other sites, so that the Italians can control the amount of people visiting. It is also reported that Italy, like most of the world, not just the West, has a housing shortage. So apartments kept empty so that they can be rented out, via AirBnB or other schemes for short term rentals, adds to this problem. Of course tourists don’t want to stay in housing in the suburbs, they want to be able to walk the streets of these historical places without having to go far from their lodgings. If one can score an apartment two blocks from the Vatican, one is lucky. Their timing was right when booking. I expect that Falcon’s Peak in Naples will now get a tourist bump as this is a popular show.

Italy now has more series that have been licensed for consumption by American TV. The Europeans, make that the civilized world, has been fed a steady diet of American TV, especially procedural dramas. So what we see reflected back at us is our genres coming back to us in Italian, French, German, Slovakia, etc. Indeed, France’s Meurtre En (Murder In) is a bloody tourist’s guide to France. I mean bloody as a double entendre. What I’ve learned by watching this series is that there is so much more to France than Paris, Chartres, Versailles and Le Mans. My next trip, look for me hiking in the French alps.

It is the characters in the story who are of real interest. I mean, murder is murder no matter what language you speak. What is of interest to me is the rule of speech that says, …it is not what you say but how you say it. Because of my work in history and mythology I look for what is alike and what is different when I study the stories of humanity. Because a country’s myths are a part of its history. It is how the story is told that opens the window to understanding other people, i.e.,other cultures. Observing Italians today opens the window wider to a view of Italy’s past. When I see a Ferrari I think Roman engineering. When I touch their finely woven wool, and there ain’t nothing like Italian wool, I think of German engineering. Why? Because the Romans made roads 2000 years ago that are still good. And then they made cars like Ferrari to drive on such roads. But they never understood tailoring, which is also engineering.That is something the Germans brought with them when they invaded Europe and Britain, 1600 years ago.

Now here is the really big question. Did the Germans speak with their hands? Or is that a Roman trait? I suggest it is a Roman trait because I don’t see the Germans using many hand gestures in their crime dramas. German still uses declensions, Italians broke away from the Latin use of the declensions but still uses some. Are the hand gestures “filler words” for those declensions?

I know. Silly question. But my brain thinks those thoughts.

So we have a cast of characters in i Bastardi, who use their hands to emphasize their words. The male lead, Lojacono, also has facial expressions I find engaging. Played by Alessandro Gassmann, he is, at 6'4”, an unusually tall actor, for an Italian.

In spite of their differences and issues, the Pizzofalcone team pulls together because each has a talent to bring to the mix, and each, to their credit, is a dedicated cop.

What is different about these cop shows in Italy and France is the love affairs they have with one another. In i Bastardi, one of the detectives is having a lesbian affair with the head of forensics. That made a big stir in Italy. But why doesn’t the immoral affair of the Commissioner with his Deputy stir their pot? Is that because it is a heterosexual affair? Then there is the affair that the Prosecutor is having with Lojacono. At least those two are not married to other people.

That precinct is a busy place…

Situations like that lend credence to the traditionalists belief that men and women should not work in such close confinement. However, when it comes to turning cop shows into romantic drama, well, the French are the best. The Italians are the second best. One doesn’t see it in the good, ole Agatha Christie stories. Nor in the newer, English series either, like Midsomer Murders. Not in America’s Law and Order either. Which gives us the idea that this is a thing among romance language speakers. Hmm….

Aside from the plethora of romances, I Bastardi di Pizzofalcone is on the gritty side. Napoli has that sort of vibe, does it not? When I finally get there, I will report back to you. In the meantime, the series is on Amazon Prime. Give it a watch and let me know what you think.