The Mirror (2009)

• 76%
• 2009
• Documentary
• David Christensen

In spite of its wonderfully picturesque location in a valley in the Italian Alps, the population of the tiny village of Viganella has been reduced by half since World War II. Young people are nowhere to be seen, and tourists appear only sporadically, in the summer months. During the winter, the sun is blocked by a mountain, meaning that the village is cloaked in shadow for 83 days a year. The village's ever-optimistic mayor Pierfranco Midali refuses to think in terms of limitations, however, and has come up with an ingenious solution. To make Viganella more attractive, he wants to install a massive mirror on one of the mountaintops, to reflect the sun onto the village in the winter. In this way, the painstakingly restored village square can also enjoy a little sunlight during the dark winter months. While helicopters put the mirror in place, a German Buddhist commune established on top of the mountain in question back in the 1980s looks on with trepidation. Midali does everything in his power to make a success of his precarious plans and bring his village to the attention of the international press, even if only for a moment. A touch of megalomania is not out of place.