Il ritorno è lontano

What is it that heals us and what saves us, us as human beings and the planet as the place where we live? Sara is a middle-aged archivist with a supportive husband, Paolo, and a daughter, Nina, whose absence she suffers. Nina has gone to study in Germany, where she takes part in an ecological movement and in doing so takes risks. A health problem leads Sara to try to fill the void left by Nina: she and Paolo decide to take in Pietro, an angelic-looking child, silent, wary, ready to reject the attentions of his new family with aggression and anger. Nina, as extreme and vehement as young people are, experiences the difficulty of justifying and defending her choices, which are right in principle but difficult to apply to everyday life. Because taking care – of oneself, of others, of the world – is a noble aspiration but one that is destined to remain imperfect. A holiday together in a German forest, with a looming danger, will be the dramatic turning point that divides – and perhaps brings together – four lonely people.