Based on the true story of an educator whose activism led to reform in children’s institutions.
It is 1970 and Ettore is a new resident at “Villa Giardini”. His mother has passed away, and his father’s new wife doesn’t want an extra mouth to feed, so he is sent to this facility existing somewhere between an asylum and a special-needs school. In this senseless place for children considered “subnormal” and “uncurable,” some mentally ill and others simply unwanted, he makes sense of the world through colors. When an unusual teacher, “the Pastor”, arrives and enacts new methods of education that show the children respect, and even love, Ettore knows that his life is about to change. In this intimate confession addressed to the Pastor, and to anyone who will listen, Ettore recounts a journey of healing through love and art.
Of everything around you—the trees, the houses, the sky and the earth, people’s faces and bodies—you see only what is missing. From an orange, you perceive the red it reflects, but do not mistake that for its true color. It is only what its rough surface reflects. It keeps the rest to itself: red is the only color it lacks. Your astonished eyes think they know an orange only by what the orange is missing.
