Cheremere - Synopsis - Taddei Paolo
GIOVANNI(50s) and MAURO(50s) are two outsiders who live a hand to mouth existence in Pisa, a small provincial university city. Giovanni used to be a famous jockey who had to stop his career after having stepped on the wrong person’s foot. Currently he dreams of going back to riding. Mauro was an important vet, but since he has been expelled from the veterinary professional association for using illegal drugs, he's totally broke. They have known each other since decades as they belong to the same work environment and they have an addiction to horse betting. Also, they are occasionally asked to do a dirty illegal job: to kill horses whose owners and trainers need passports to be used with younger and stronger ones. Dead horses are then routinely buried in pits covered with concrete.
One day among a group of horses sentenced to death, Giovanni recognizes his beloved "Cheremere", a bay horse with three white footed. “Balzane a tre, cavallo del Re”. ALI'(30s), Cheremere’s owner, the man who wants to replace Cheremere is also the man whose foot Giovanni has stepped on. Giovanni also stole him his girlfriend WENDY(30s), a ballerina. Giovanni decides that he simply can’t kill his be-loved champion.
Giovanni challenges Alì. He’s going to ride Cheremere in a race against one of Alì’s horses, ridden by a young jockey PINO(20s). If Giovanni wins Cheremere will be safe, else Cheremere will die. Alì accepts such challenge. Wendy doesn’t believe in Giovanni’s promises any longer as she’s tired of them and afraid to lose her job, a ballerina in a night club owned by Alì, in which new, younger girls have just been recruited. Giovanni is also quite overweight and so decides to try everything to get fit, focusing especially on jogging and sauna. The race is just a few days away. Giovanni knows that he could lose and consequently his dreams with Wendy fade away. That’s why he decides to pay a visit to IL MORINO(80s), a long time trainer, to arrange a B plan. Il Morino proposes Giovanni to use an old illegal trick: the 9 volts battery. Attached to the whip, it can give a crucial push to the horse during the gallop. Giovanni accepts to try the trick during the training. It works perfectly and so Giovanni is more relaxed and reassures Wendy about his victory. He proudly shows her the battery that will give them a new life far away Alì. But Giovanni doesn’t tell Wendy that he had found another bay horse, three white footed, that he’s going to use as a substitute for Cheremere in case things go wrong. The bay horse, three white footed, has been hidden in Il Morino abandoned stables.
The day of the race has come. Giovanni is at the rod of the marvellous hippodrome placed in the National Park of San Rossore, just a few minutes away from Pisa. Near him there are Mauro and Il Morino, Giovanni looks for Wendy but she’s not there. The Speaker calls the horses to the starting gate. Pino and Giovanni are close to each other. Suddenly Pino grabs Giovanni’s whip and throws it away saying: “..with Alì and Wendy’s best regards”. “Here they go” the speaker announces. Giovanni fights like a lion but Pino wins for a short face. Giovanni is defeated and he must finish the job. After having loaded Cheremere and other two horses into his van Giovanni goes to Il Morino’s stables to substitute Cheremere. Then he goes to the building yard. His plan seems to proceed but Alì, after his bodyguard BRUNO(50s) had grilled Mauro, gets to know about the substitute horse, three white footed. Alì goes to Il Morino’s, takes Cheremere and then goes to the building yard. Giovanni, betrayed by everyone, faces Alì and kills him. But Giovanni dies as well because of Bruno’s intervention.
Cheremere gallops away.
