Mediterraneanism and ironic postmodern nostalgia in Sergio Rubini's Apulia

The Mediterranean basin is a transnational, multicultural and multilingual region that, because of its unique geography, has long facilitated social and economic interconnections. This remains true today, even as the world struggles with division and conflict. The Mediterranean stands as a fluid, aqua-centric example of pacific coexistence. In this article I consider three films by the actor-director Sergio Rubini – L'anima gemella/Soul Mate (2001), La terra/The Land (2005), and L'uomo nero/Bogeyman (2009) – that offer viewers examples of postmodern nostalgia and Mediterraneanism as manifested in southern Italian culture. By taking into account studies of the use of magic in the Italian south, Meridian philosophy, and the unique combination of irony and nostalgia, I investigate how Rubini's oeuvre expresses intrinsic Mediterraneanism. In each of these films, metamorphosis (physical and psychological) denotes modes of cultural integration and reintegration, spiritualmoral hybridization (between paganism and Catholicism, between family loyalty and criminal tribalism) and reinterpretations of the past.