In my student days, lessons in Maltese history had a massive failing. A good chunk of the previous four decades were invariably omitted. These were the Mintoff decades, years that left an indelible mark on the political and social path our country would take.
Judging by what I hear, few are the history teachers that dare delve into the subject. And perhaps until very recently this was understandable. Maybe those years, which were undeniably tumultuous no matter what your political allegiance, were still too close for comfort to be dealt with objectively.
The result is that we have a generation of people who were born after 1985 who have no idea of this aspect of our country's history, save what they hear from family and friends. And which, let's face it, is unlikely to be without personal bias.
Now someone has taken it upon himself to break this self-inflicted omerta. Pierre Ellul's docu-film, Dear Dom, hits cinemas on March 23. I went in for the press viewing not really sure whether resurrecting events that are sure to provoke a strong reaction in viewers was really such a good idea. I left the cinema knowing that, whatever the viewers' personal feelings...
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