In rural environments, as in urban ones, the war event profoundly changes the relationships between men and women, between parents and children; in particular, the relationships of dependence are altered, redefining responsibilities and roles for the satisfaction of new needs.
The young Alba, born in Elva, in the mountains of Val Maira, experiences the First World War as a teenager. Now a woman, she leaves the mountains to realize her dream of becoming a teacher; as a gift, she brings with her the secret of the partisan war, in which she is an active participant. Alba will also survive the Second World War and for the first time, now fifty years old, will be called to express her vote in the first Italian universal suffrage. During the years of the First World War, women, for the first time, enter social roles and the world of work, until then exclusively male domains. It is a forced emancipation, this too dictated by the need for war and by the roles left uncovered by men who are almost all at war. But carrying out the tasks from which they had until then been excluded triggers an unstoppable process, which progressively leads to a real change and a different participation of women that will culminate, in ’46, in the first universal suffrage, where women’s votes are decisive for a radical change.
With ALBA DELL’ORRIDO DI ELVA we start again from the mountains, from those of Carnia in the show MARTA E OLMO to those of Piedmont. If Marta’s life is soon shattered, Alba’s will go through the two wars to get to cast her first vote, as a free woman, in ’46. For her we imagined a life that is not special, as a heroine, but tough and determined; the experiences she encounters temper and strengthen her. Alba is a woman who chooses, at first out of instinct and youthful opposition, but gradually the values consolidate in her and the choices become coherent and inevitable, with the awareness of the price that may need to be paid. We see her teaching during the fascist period, but trying to communicate to the kids values different from those advocated by the regime, facing a great risk, later we see her participate in the Resistance, or look after the little ones and the elderly during the bombings of Turin. Alba participates in social life and has a role, albeit limited, in the transformation that is taking place. But at the origin of “Alba” there is the mountain, a secluded place. Let’s imagine that Alba was born in Elva, in Val Maira, an extraordinary place for many reasons. Elva, due to its geographical location, is still not easy to reach. That is the cradle of Alba, with its traditions that she does not deny, as it may initially seem, but transforms and therefore, paradoxically, strengthens.
Because traditions that are not renewed, revitalized, become only heavy burdens to drag. Alba is a woman who, unlike Marta (from the show MARTA E OLMO), reaches full maturity and awareness of her role in the community, in the social fabric, but also of her own meaning and needs.
