THE LOST PARADISE
New Zealand is a happy island, far away from everything and everyone. In the true sense of the word. The nearly 5 million inhabitants on an area almost equal to that of Italy demonstrate how nature has prevailed: it's no coincidence that it's a country that relies 90% on tourism for its economy. Yet this is not enough to hide the flip side of the coin.
When you ask someone for information about New Zealand, everyone thinks, indeed, of the natural expanses where everything seems to coexist harmoniously and perfectly, but it's not just that. Living 24/7, you perceive something else: a sense of closure, of false appearances in which the integration talked about so much actually falters day by day. There is resignation on the part of the Maori population, now part of society, overwhelmed by vices and left to flounder. Those who did not want to comply with these rules have retreated into the heart of the forests, so deep as to lose their tracks.
With this reportage, we seek to highlight what is always put in a corner: the everyday life of outsiders, those who do not conform and who, lacking the right tools, let themselves go, uncovering a vase full of inconsistencies, hostilities, and evasions. We have lived with these people, observed them in moments of vulnerability, talked with some and argued with others, but, despite this, as often happens in colonized countries, we have confirmed that integration has not brought about a 100% positive growth. It has brought out resentment, thus overshadowing those origins that are lost day by day precisely due to a consequent lack of acknowledgment on their part.
