We Can Do That

From a close range nobody is normal

A warm-hearted but clear-eyed drama about a director's efforts to help marginalized former psychiatric patients reclaim agency and dignity, balanced between hope and the real costs of pushing too hard.

The film follows Nello, the recently hired director of a newly developed work cooperative of former mental patients. After the closure of state psychiatric hospitals and asylums in Italy under the Basaglia Law many former patients were left with few resources and little hope of reintegrating into society. With the intention of actually improving the lives of his pupils, rather than just sedating them, Nello encourages them to expand their individual abilities and explore the wider world around them although, regardless of intention, there is sometimes a price to pushing boundaries too quickly.