Monica Bellucci won the Nastro d’Argento Europeo 2017 for her interpretation in the film On the Milky Way by Emir Kusturica. The prestigious award, assigned in the past to such personalities as Krzystof Kieslowsky, Philippe Noiret, Aki Kaurismaki, Ken Loach, Alain Resnais, Theo Angelopoulos, Pedro Almodòvar, Roman Polanski, Matteo Garrone and the same Emir Kusturica, is a tribute not only to the charm and beauty of an uncontested star of international star system, but to the real challenge Bellucci has taken on with a role that is very far from the glamour and the image we were used to.
The film tells about a love story during the 1990s wars in former Yugoslavia, and Bellucci is a woman, a secret agent, with a Serbian father and an Italian mother. The story brings viewers into the tragedy of war in a world dominated by the relationship with nature and the animal world. The film is settled in Krajina, a Croatian region inhabited by Serbians and theatre of bloody conflicts which cost the lives of over 20 thousand people, with hundreds of thousands of refugees. The Umbrian actress had already received a Nastro d’Argento as best supporting actress in 2003 for Ricordati di me by Gabriele Muccino, besides two nominations in 2004 ( La passione di Cristo) and 2007 (Io e Napoleone). ” I would like to thank the Union board of nastri d’Argento. I have a deep respect for this award offered by the Italian press – Monica Bellucci declared – also because I know it is the most ancient and prestigious one. I am deeply linked to Italy and awards coming form my country are the best ones for me. Emir Kusturica gave me the possibility to play one of the most beautiful mature roles. And I would like to thank him for creating such an intense woman character and for making a woman so beautiful despite her biological age. With his film Kusturica has showed that beauty and love are just a matter of energy, not age. On the Milky Road is a film about soul”.
