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Phil Mercer |
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Wednesday, March 25, 2009Il Divo (Cert 15)
 Il Divo: La spettacolare vita di Giulio Andreotti - The spectacular life of Giulio Andreotti. This is one of those films that would have passed me by if it weren't for the recommendation of one of my friendly cinema managers. Once I had made certain that this film had nothing to do with a rather dire classicpop band I did my usual cursory glance at the plot. I can't say that my knowledge of Italian politics has any depth about it - aside from having heard of Berlosconi and The Mafia and even that hasn't sparked any real interest. So I set upon a movie of discovery - can Sorrentino's film Il Divo inspire me to learn some more about the modern remnants of the once all powerful ancient Roman empire? I very quickly realised that at least some back ground knowledge would have helped my enjoyment of the film. It took a lot of concentration and quick reading to try and keep up with who we were watching and why they were important. We are introduced to the various characters that made up the people that surround seven time Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti. We are also very quickly introduced to the rather grizzly end for many of them. The plot time line bounces around his return to power for a seventh time, the friends that got him there and in particular how the kidnap and death of Prime Minister Aldo Moro had affected Andreotti personally. Toni Servillo is wonderful as our focus. His portrayal of Andreotti is mesmerising. The Premier has the manarisms of a stylishly dressed Elmar Fudd with the addition of funny ears and a big hump back. There is something very dark, controlling and cold about this man, yet the lighter moments throughout the film are down to his dry ironic remarks. We follow Andreotti as he takes power, fails to become president and then faces various trails. There is no attempt to answer the questions - was he connected with the Mafia, but it does give an insight in to how difficult it must be to trust anyone in Italian politics. I'm not sure this film has inspired me to read up much more on how things work in Rome, but it is an enjoyable journey. The movie is well constructed with a real panash about it. I love the soundtrack and the clever use of labelling throughout. May be a second view would allow me to move my attention away from the subtitles a little more and let me take in the rest of the picture, but thats to be expected when your a monolinguist like me! 6/10 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Il_Divo_(film) Labels: Film Movie Comments:
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Copyright Phil Mercer 2010