A decade that seems to have flown by, yet weighs as if it were yesterday. Ten years since that evening of January 25, 2016, when Giulio Regeni, young 28-year-old Friulian researcher disappeared near the Dokki metro station in Cairo. And ten years since the tragic discovery of his body, on February 3, brutally tortured and abandoned on the edge of an overpass in the Egyptian capital.
“But what did they do to you?” is the muffled cry that Paola Deffendi, mother of Giulio, pronounced in front of her son’s body. Today, these words have become the symbol of a battle of truth that united the country, and which continues to mark a generation. These are words that now resonate in the documentary film All the evil in the worldreleased in theaters on February 2, 3 and 4 with Fandango, after the national premiere at Fiumicello Villa Vicentina on January 25th.
The documentary, lasting 100 minutes and directed by Simone Manetti, retraces the dramatic days of Giulio’s kidnapping, the torture suffered, the historical-political context of Cairo and the family’s path towards the truth. It is not an investigative film, but a story made of direct words: those of Giulio’s parents, of those who followed the trial and of the witnesses who saw the story up close. A narrative that moves on two levels: the family one, where pain becomes strength, and the political one, which helps to understand the dynamics of a State which, in the name of paranoia, can transform a good face into a swollen mask.
Giulio Paola and Claudio’s parents during the hearing of the trial on the murder of Giulio Regeni in Rome on May 27th
(HANDLE)
Unfortunately, the story of Giulio Regeni remains suspended for a while. The trial of the four Egyptian intelligence officers accused of his death has been sent to the Constitutional Court, which will have to rule on questions of law that risk further extending the wait. Yet, as the parents recall, memory remains a powerful weapon against oblivion: «Thanks to those who prevented oblivion. Citizens and media escorts have illuminated the path towards the truth.”
Watch All the evil in the world means to deal with brutality, with injustice, but also with the resilience of those who have never stopped looking for answers. It is an act of civil and collective memory, an invitation to never accept that silence and fear can prevail over the right to the truth. For this reason, ten years later, the story of Giulio Regeni still speaks to us, questions us and reminds us that justice is never just an abstract concept, but a concrete journey made up of people and which requires courage, patience and, above all, memory.
