Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi has a chance to prove himself a ''hero'' at the Group of Eight summit in Italy this year by keeping a promise to help combat world poverty, Oxfam ambassador and film star Colin Firth told ANSA Thursday.
Berlusconi is the only prime minister at this year's summit who was also present at the G8 in the United Kingdom in 2005, when world leaders pledged to increase development aid by 50 billion dollars a year until 2010.
But according to development charity Oxfam, Italy - which holds this year's G8 presidency - is among countries that have so far failed to follow up on the promise, instead ''dramatically reducing'' the quantity of aid for developing countries.
''Berlusconi personally signed that document in front of the world. If I could speak to him face to face, I'd tell him this is his opportunity to make a 'bella figura', to set an example to other leaders and to do something heroic by pledging to maintain that promise,'' said Firth, who is married to Italian filmmaker Livia Giuggioli.
''I'd also tell him I'm completely in love with Italy, my wife is Italian and I want to be proud of the country - and it should keep its promises,'' he added.
The only Oxfam ambassador to speak fluent Italian, Firth was in Rome Thursday to galvanise fellow artists into joining a campaign based on Make Poverty History, a high-profile campaign founded by screenwriter Richard Curtis in the UK ahead of the 2005 G8 summit.
''He created a movement of monumental proportions,'' Firth said of Curtis, who wrote the screenplay for Bridget Jones' Diary, the film that propelled Firth to international stardom.
''Actors, musicians and comedians wore white arm bands bearing the campaign message and came together to put pressure on G8 ministers via public opinion''.
Firth claims the G8 promises to scrap debt in 24 countries (''the biggest victory'') and to raise development aid was a direct result of that campaign.
''(Then UK Prime Minister Tony) Blair couldn't come out of that summit without a reply to the campaign,'' he said.
''It's all about making the ministers understand that they are being watched''.
ITALIAN ARTISTS TO PUT MINISTERS UNDER PRESSURE.
Firth and Oxfam plan to promote a similar campaign in Italy and on Thursday evening will meet to discuss strategy at a working dinner at Rome's Villa Medici with some of the most important names in Italian cinema.
Among guests will be Valeria Golino, the star of 2002 Cannes-winner Respiro who also had a role in Rain Man, and Sergio Castellitto, who last year played baddy King Miraz in The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.
Also present will be Gabriele Muccino, the only Italian director to have broken into Hollywood in recent years with The Pursuit of Happyness, which became a box office hit and won Will Smith an Oscar nomination for best actor.
Artistic initiatives to pressure ministers began last month when on behalf of the Italian Coalition Against Poverty 20 musicians dressed as cupids 'serenaded' Economy Minister Giulio Tremonti on Valentine's Day, metres away from where he was chairing a meeting of G7 economy ministers.
The musicians held placards that read ''Giulio, don't break our hearts. Keep promises''.
Firth stressed that the global financial crisis should not be used as an ''excuse'' for scrapping aid contributions.
''The sums needed to make poverty history are actually far smaller than people imagine. It's enough to think that three days' worth of spending on the Iraq war would have been sufficient to fund essential medicines for the whole of Africa,'' he said.
''I have seen the difference made between something or nothing,'' he added.
'NOBODY LIKES BEING FILMED'.
Talking about his personal relationship with Oxfam, Firth said he ''couldn't live without'' his work for humanitarian organisations any more than he could live without acting.
''I'm the person who has benefited the most from campaigning. As an actor the diet of self can consume you completely and you need something more important to take up your time''.
The actor said he ''hated'' watching himself in films or reading about himself.
''I find it difficult to look at my face. Nobody likes being filmed. It's horrible. We all believe that we're better looking and more elegant than we are in reality.
''In reality, I'm 20, I'm in perfect shape and I hate to see this 50 year old who's imitating me on the screen.
Firth's mother works with asylum seekers and refugees and his grandfather was a missionary in India ''helping with schools and hospitals - he didn't convert a single person to Christianity''.
''I don't know if I'd say this kind of work was in my blood. I had no interest in it for many years. But of course if I'd had different relatives, I would be different too,'' he said.
Although he is based in the UK, Firth said he spends ''long holidays'' in Italy with his wife and two young sons, Matteo and Luca.
''I get fed up with London. I'm quite restless anyway, but Italy is the only place I always want to be.
''I love the obvious things about Italy - the architecture, the sculpture, the fashion, the cooking, the climate - culturally it's the centre of the world''.
But Firth admitted that he missed British television when he spent time in Italy.
''For a country that has a reputation for being cultured, sophisticated and intelligent, the TV is a lethal shock. You think maybe it's just this channel, but you flick through them and it's all the same,'' he said.
