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Starring a convicted murderer, Reality tells the story of a Naples fishmonger obsessed with reality TV. The winner of the Grand Prix at the 65th edition of the Cannes Film Festival , will open in movie theaters in New York City on March 15th and in Los Angeles on march 22nd. A national release will follow.

Along with the various observations that have been made by three of our esteemed colleagues (De Stefano, Gardaphé, Krase), and I must emphasize that I am in agreement as well with other sentiments that they raise, one must indeed recognize the merits of Roberto Saviano’s work these past four-plus years. He has put himself, literally, on the line, and we might readily agree that no “fame” or “wealth,” however significant or insignificant it may be, is worth the risk.

In the second of a series of commentaries by Italian-American intellectuals on Roberto Saviano's recent talk about Mafia at the New York University, sociologist Jerome Krase “agree(s) wholeheartedly with Saviano, that in order to escape from ‘unbearable’ anti-Italian prejudice of which they are victims, those people who label themselves or are labeled by others as ‘Italian Americans’ should ignore the lucrative excesses of the likes of David Chase, Francis Ford Coppola, and Martin Scorsese but instead learn and share the reality rather than the reality shows of Italian and Italian American history.” However, he adds: “Saviano seems not to know the ‘American’ version of the Italian scene. As do others, he expresses an Italocentric view of both Italians and Italian Americans. Unfortunately, Italians are as little interested in the real Italian American experience as Italian Americans are in the real Italy.”

Roberto Saviano, Italian journalist and author of “Gomorrah”, will be joining the Occupy Wall Street protesters in Zuccotti Park today at 12 pm.