Anthony Minghella
I have never met Anthony Minghella but I have written a paper and done some research on his life, given that I am interested in humanitarian gifted people. In addition my father Luciano Zotti knew him well because he was an orchestra conductor and was involved in some work with Anthony. Anthony was a humanitarian gifted person. I wish I had met him because we shared so much. He was one of my idols and I have decided to write this paper and dedicate it to him.
Anthony (just Ant to his friends) was a humanitarian gifted person. He was one of the finest film directors, a musician/pianist, a gifted play writer, and a movie producer. If anyone asked him, he would say that he was just a play writer who could direct and produce movies. But he was not just a play writer because he was a creative genius who had incredible wisdom.
He had been able to accept himself as an artist and conquer the loneliness that artists occasionally suffer with. He was never happier than when he was alone, writing away. He was a workaholic, always immersed in his work and could juggle quite a few things at the same time. But apart from his work, Ant was passionate about life, people, and worked actively to fight prejudice especially towards migrants and women.
It was his grandmother who had first told him that “men are weak, and women are strong; women survive while men are hopeless and stupid.” I can understand what she was trying to say to Ant. I agree with Ant’s grandmother: men are indeed stupid while women are survivors. We only have to look at our Patriarchal world to know that we are in serious trouble for Patriarchy is self destructing. We desperately need a Matriarchal system. Ant would agree with me and indeed this comes through some of his movie especially Cold Mountain in which women are survivors. But our agreement on life would not stop here. Ant knew that migrants are tolerated and never fully integrated in a society. I know a lot about this being an Italian migrant who arrived in Australia as a grown man. Many times I feel that I am misunderstood in the Anglo Saxon culture. Yet Ant loved migrants. If he saw a migrant cleaner he would stop and talk to him or her to find that they were special in their own unique way.
Anthony always brought out the best out of people and always looked for the gem inside of everyone. He would make you feel welcome, an equal and give you full attention. He could talk for hours especially about writing and words and especially about the Irish play writer Samuel Beckett whom Ant admired very much. As a matter of fact, he was writing his PhD on Beckett which he later abandoned. I feel that just like Beckett, Ant, although grateful to the academic establishment for helping him become a good play writer, became dissatisfied with the academia.
Leave a Reply