The TV film "The class of donkeys" which will be broadcast on Raiuno Monday 14/11 is freely inspired by the story of Mirella Casale, teacher born in Turin in 1925. Throughout her life Mirella has dedicated herself to the insertion of Disabled in the school, fighting for the closure of "special" classes.
The need to deal with disability comes from a family experience. In 1957, her first daughter, Flavia, at six months was struck by a violent form of Asian flu which caused serious damage to her brain. Roberto, the couple's second child, was born in 1961.
Mirella's tough fight: from principal to president of Anffas
Became headmaster in '68, Mirella experiments with the inclusion of children with disabilities in normal classes, clashing with the prejudices of those years. In the meantime he becomes president ofAnffas (National Association of Families of People with Intellectual or Relational Disabilities) of Turin.
Mirella began a strenuous fight for the recognition of the right for disabled children to attend compulsory school with other children. He believes in evaluation, he believes in the traditional school capable of educating.
The class of donkeys : a film with a strong emotional impact
A film that emphasizes good Italy, that Italy that strives to change things and does so with all the means at its disposal. The Italy of the years of lead that, despite the thousand difficulties, is capable of acts of pure civilization to be proud of: the law "Falcucci" and the law "Basaglia" they are daughters of those years and model for similar measures in other countries of Europe and the world.
An era in which even in the school the imagination was mixed with tradition, generating new ways of teaching and learning, such as that of Mirella Casale and like that of Happy Julian, the "fictional" character played by Flavio Insinna, an atypical professor full of love for his profession, so much so that he wanted to bring culture where it had never reached, even and above all among the "misfits", those whom the school had rejected or did not want.
There is to take on the role of Mirella Casale Vanessa Incontrada, who had the good fortune to personally know the principal, now ninety years old. A woman of lucidity, class and extraordinary strength.
On the other hand, results like the ones she has obtained can only be achieved if you are an out of the ordinary woman.
The class of donkeys it is therefore a story of good feelings that is a "public service" aware of the realities and small stories that have made our country great. A moving but also vital story that places the point of view of children excluded from school because they are considered different at the center of the narrative.
