Post-secular identity in contemporary Italian cinema: Catholic 'cement', the suppression of history and the lost Islamic other

Alessandro Ferrari claims that Catholicism was the only cement binding the newly unified Italy together, a country without a common language or a widespread culture capable of founding civic engagement. Taking a post-secular perspective on religion, which recognizes that religion is not simply a residue' soon to be extinguished (as Raymond Williams once stated), this article will explore Italian cinema's contemporary constructions of this national religious cement' as a putative foundation for identity in 21st century Italy. The article sets out too to show the cracks in the cement: collective identity can only be created by ignoring religious diversity and removing thorny issues from the history of the Catholic church.