Being an ignorant non-Italian, I'd never heard of Enrico Mattei before seeing this film. Now that I've watched The Mattei Case, I feel compelled to know more! Gian Maria Volonte is outstanding as a left-wing oil tycoon whose determination to keep petrol proceeds out of the hands of private multinationals made him enemies in big business and organized crime. The film plays a bit like a Costa-Gavras political thriller, and it's interesting to see director Francesco Rosi in a sizable cameo as a filmmaker trying to make a film about Mattei! Though the film was designed specifically for Italian audiences, it's story of greed, corruption, and resource wars seems entirely contemporary. Also of note: Piero Piccioni's claustrophobic musique concret score.
7 Reviews
Two, not one, real-life mysterious killings while making a film on one
JuguAbraham30 April 2023
Interesting feature film that combines two, not one, real life mysteries. The main tale is about emergence of Enrico Mattei and his growing clout in Italy and the world, after propagating the underground methane reserves in Italy to alleviate poverty in Italy, post-Word War II. Though Mattei was a member of ths Christian Democrats Party during the war he was appointed after the war to dismantle AGIP, a petroleum agency set up by the Fascists. He found scientific studies already conducted but shelved about methane reserves and subsequently converted AGIP which he was supposed to dismantle into a major state-owned powerful petroleum company called ANI. Rosi's film presents both the negative and the positive sides of Mattei, who was by all accounts killed in a plane crash in 1962, possibly with a bomb placed on board the aircraft.
The secondary tale (also real) is of Rosi employing an investigative journalist, Mauro de Mauro, to figure out the last days of Mattei. Mauro, too, is killed before he can provide all the details of his investigation to filmmaker Rosi for making this film. Two separate but possibly linked killings. The viewer is left to guess the killers. The second tale lifts up the quality of the film even further than the first. Rosi is admirable for presenting all views of both the killings.
A film that won a deserving Golden Palm at Cannes Festival. The real heroes of the film are Mauro, the journalist who was killed while helping Rosi, the scriptwriters. Tonino Guerra, Rosi and Tito di Stefano.
The secondary tale (also real) is of Rosi employing an investigative journalist, Mauro de Mauro, to figure out the last days of Mattei. Mauro, too, is killed before he can provide all the details of his investigation to filmmaker Rosi for making this film. Two separate but possibly linked killings. The viewer is left to guess the killers. The second tale lifts up the quality of the film even further than the first. Rosi is admirable for presenting all views of both the killings.
A film that won a deserving Golden Palm at Cannes Festival. The real heroes of the film are Mauro, the journalist who was killed while helping Rosi, the scriptwriters. Tonino Guerra, Rosi and Tito di Stefano.
A glimpse into the life and death of a giant
gizmomogwai26 November 2014
Warning: Spoilers
Told in a near-documentary-style, realist way, The Mattei Affair is otherwise a sort of Italian Citizen Kane. It starts with the death of a character- based on a real businessman- goes back to tell his life, and explores the power of business.
I knew nothing of Enrico Mattei before seeing this, and at times the detail in the film could be hard to follow. Still, at its best moments, the film is an intriguing exploration of power. Mattei runs a state corporation in the oil industry, and defines oil not merely as money, but as power, creating revolutions and coups. He funds political parties, referring to them as taxis he gets on and off as it suits him. He runs newspapers giving him favourable publicity- at taxpayers' expense. He quotes an American journalist calling Mattei the most important Italian since Julius Caesar- hyperbole, maybe, but the point is made- Mattei made a mark on the world, in the name of Italy.
While the presentation is straightforward, at times, the drama gets through. And there's a bit of mystery, namely in Mattei's death. The film can't say whether it was murder- the case is unsolved in real life.
The Mattei Affair portrays the power wielded by a man, and how he presented himself to the public, but at times I wished I could know more about the man. Who is Mattei really? Does he really care about the Arabs? What does he really care about? Still, it is clear he is an extraordinary man- and the film is interesting to see.
I knew nothing of Enrico Mattei before seeing this, and at times the detail in the film could be hard to follow. Still, at its best moments, the film is an intriguing exploration of power. Mattei runs a state corporation in the oil industry, and defines oil not merely as money, but as power, creating revolutions and coups. He funds political parties, referring to them as taxis he gets on and off as it suits him. He runs newspapers giving him favourable publicity- at taxpayers' expense. He quotes an American journalist calling Mattei the most important Italian since Julius Caesar- hyperbole, maybe, but the point is made- Mattei made a mark on the world, in the name of Italy.
While the presentation is straightforward, at times, the drama gets through. And there's a bit of mystery, namely in Mattei's death. The film can't say whether it was murder- the case is unsolved in real life.
The Mattei Affair portrays the power wielded by a man, and how he presented himself to the public, but at times I wished I could know more about the man. Who is Mattei really? Does he really care about the Arabs? What does he really care about? Still, it is clear he is an extraordinary man- and the film is interesting to see.
Of one the most interesting films I have ever seen
Arca194314 May 2005
Warning: Spoilers
CONTAINS SPOILERS. One thing I find very Cinecittà, very Francesco Rosi about The Mattei Affair is how the authors (which also include writer Tonino Guerra and star Gian Maria Volontè) succeed at making us grasp both the negative and positive impacts of Mattei and his action on post-war Italy.
At one point in the film, you hear a character saying that the Italian "economic miracle" (early sixties) is mostly due to the great Enrico Mattei. At some other point, another character says that had the dangerous Enrico Mattei succeeded, democracy in Italy was «finished». Well, without stating it in the open, the film has a way to convey that both these points of view are equally blatant exaggerations; that the truth about Enrico Mattei is a complicated mix, to be exposed in a very short, very concentrated two-hour movie.
Indeed, to succeed at conveying the essential about Mattei IN ONLY TWO HOURS is a already a tour de force.
So you have the sincere Mattei and the demagogic Mattei. You have Mattei the antifascist leader - he fought with the Christian Democrats, by the way, not the Socialists, Mr. De Luca - and then you have the postwar public-sector mogul who compromises (however briefly) in maneuvering with the Neo-Fascist party (MSI) in order to bring about some by-law he needed for ENI's ends. You have Mattei the genius of management, who performed miracles and made the Italian State a fierce competitor against American, British and French petroleum companies, but also the Mattei whose massive and creative use of public money was out of control (he launched a daily newspaper, among other things, in order to promote ENI's interests). You have Mattei the patriot, the man of vision who understood that his country, compared with most other Western countries, was the most devoid of energy resources and had somehow to get around this infrastructural weakness by a bold, risky development policy that included playing rough'n'tough against the British-American petroleum monopoly. But then you have the most dangerous Mattei who, especially after the death of Foreign Affairs minister Carlo Sforza in 1952, started to impose his own foreign-affairs agenda on the Italian government by placing it in front of a series of accomplished facts. And this, by the way, explains how Italy in the 50s could be one of Washington's most solid political allies in Europe on the one hand, while dealing on the other hand with the Soviet Union for a prolongation of a Soviet pipe-line that would reach to Italy through the Balkans.
I could continue like this for many more paragraphs. When I first saw L'Affaire Mattei (in its excellent French version, back in the late 70s when I was a not-too-bright teenager watching TV), I knew zilch about Italy. But this outstanding film, as well as a flock of other Italian movies of the same miraculous era, convinced me that this country like no other was really worth learning more about. How true that was, I still can't believe it today.
One more thing : the De Mauro affair. In 1970, journalist Mauro de Mauro was hired by filmmaker Francesco Rosi in order to document the last days of Enrico Mattei, who died in the crash of his plane. A crash whose cause is still controversial : as of right now, with the documents actually available, neither accident nor murder can be ruled out.
So journalist De Mauro was hired by Rosi to inquire in Sicily about Mattei's death - and he vanished. His body was never found. Two police bodies investigated the matter. The conclusions of the Carabinieri were that De Mauro's murder (murder in all likeliness) was a Mafia action linked to a series of papers he had recently published about the drug trade. The conclusions of the Questura (national police) was that De Mauro had been murdered as a direct result of his investigation on Enrico Mattei's death.
As could be expected, both versions are given equal importance in this Francesco Rosi film. But now, just for kicks, let's imagine it's the Questura investigators who had it right : then it would mean that a film that was meant to be ABOUT the Mattei affair became A PART of the Mattei affair. Anyway, whatever the truth on this issue, that much is clear : Mr. Rosi and his friends were filming in hot water.
And speaking of hot water, il caso Mattei was released in 1972 - roughly a year before the first petroleum shock.
And to top it all, Mattei is interpreted by the mesmerizing Gian Maria Volontè ! He alone is worth the show.
To me, the Mattei Affair is one of the best political films ever made.
At one point in the film, you hear a character saying that the Italian "economic miracle" (early sixties) is mostly due to the great Enrico Mattei. At some other point, another character says that had the dangerous Enrico Mattei succeeded, democracy in Italy was «finished». Well, without stating it in the open, the film has a way to convey that both these points of view are equally blatant exaggerations; that the truth about Enrico Mattei is a complicated mix, to be exposed in a very short, very concentrated two-hour movie.
Indeed, to succeed at conveying the essential about Mattei IN ONLY TWO HOURS is a already a tour de force.
So you have the sincere Mattei and the demagogic Mattei. You have Mattei the antifascist leader - he fought with the Christian Democrats, by the way, not the Socialists, Mr. De Luca - and then you have the postwar public-sector mogul who compromises (however briefly) in maneuvering with the Neo-Fascist party (MSI) in order to bring about some by-law he needed for ENI's ends. You have Mattei the genius of management, who performed miracles and made the Italian State a fierce competitor against American, British and French petroleum companies, but also the Mattei whose massive and creative use of public money was out of control (he launched a daily newspaper, among other things, in order to promote ENI's interests). You have Mattei the patriot, the man of vision who understood that his country, compared with most other Western countries, was the most devoid of energy resources and had somehow to get around this infrastructural weakness by a bold, risky development policy that included playing rough'n'tough against the British-American petroleum monopoly. But then you have the most dangerous Mattei who, especially after the death of Foreign Affairs minister Carlo Sforza in 1952, started to impose his own foreign-affairs agenda on the Italian government by placing it in front of a series of accomplished facts. And this, by the way, explains how Italy in the 50s could be one of Washington's most solid political allies in Europe on the one hand, while dealing on the other hand with the Soviet Union for a prolongation of a Soviet pipe-line that would reach to Italy through the Balkans.
I could continue like this for many more paragraphs. When I first saw L'Affaire Mattei (in its excellent French version, back in the late 70s when I was a not-too-bright teenager watching TV), I knew zilch about Italy. But this outstanding film, as well as a flock of other Italian movies of the same miraculous era, convinced me that this country like no other was really worth learning more about. How true that was, I still can't believe it today.
One more thing : the De Mauro affair. In 1970, journalist Mauro de Mauro was hired by filmmaker Francesco Rosi in order to document the last days of Enrico Mattei, who died in the crash of his plane. A crash whose cause is still controversial : as of right now, with the documents actually available, neither accident nor murder can be ruled out.
So journalist De Mauro was hired by Rosi to inquire in Sicily about Mattei's death - and he vanished. His body was never found. Two police bodies investigated the matter. The conclusions of the Carabinieri were that De Mauro's murder (murder in all likeliness) was a Mafia action linked to a series of papers he had recently published about the drug trade. The conclusions of the Questura (national police) was that De Mauro had been murdered as a direct result of his investigation on Enrico Mattei's death.
As could be expected, both versions are given equal importance in this Francesco Rosi film. But now, just for kicks, let's imagine it's the Questura investigators who had it right : then it would mean that a film that was meant to be ABOUT the Mattei affair became A PART of the Mattei affair. Anyway, whatever the truth on this issue, that much is clear : Mr. Rosi and his friends were filming in hot water.
And speaking of hot water, il caso Mattei was released in 1972 - roughly a year before the first petroleum shock.
And to top it all, Mattei is interpreted by the mesmerizing Gian Maria Volontè ! He alone is worth the show.
To me, the Mattei Affair is one of the best political films ever made.
Blurb.
ItalianGerry6 January 2002
THE MATTEI AFFAIR is the fascinating story of Enrico Mattei, a man who helped change Italy's destiny "from a land of song and dance to an industrial nation," as he himself put it. By promoting methane gas as one of the country's greatest natural resources, he was able to bring Italy into the world market and make himself both powerful and hated. He became head of ENI, a state body formed for the development of oil resources. He was socialist by conviction, led a very modest private life, and had conflicts with powerful American oil capitalists. There is a memorable scene in the film in which in a meeting with these oil moguls, he is insultingly treated as a peon. His 1962 death in a private plane crash outside of Milan was believed to have been an assassination, and his death remains shrouded in mystery. This is not a documentary. It is a thought-provoking and intriguing drama about a great man, brilliantly portrayed by the great Italian actor Gian Maria Volonte' and made by the great Italian director Francesco Rosi.
A mind boggling political film from a great Italian film maker Francesco Rosi
FilmCriticLalitRao5 February 2009
It must be made clear that "Il Caso Mattei" is a different Italian film.This film is not a biographical analysis of a powerful man who mattered a lot to politicians in Italy.It has been directed by Francesco Rosi,a great Italian film director whose films always made a point to expose what was going wrong with Italy.This is the reason why he can be called the conscience keeper of Italy.Italian actor Gian Maria Volonté shines in one of his life's most outstanding roles as Enrico Mattei,an oil magnate who was one of Italy's most powerful men.Francesco Rosi has made his film in almost a subtle documentary manner but the film has nothing to do with documentary cinema.Il Caso Mattei is considered a supreme example of political cinema genre.It is one of those rare films which succeed in making their point noted without being neither controversial nor brash.This is all due to Francesco Rosi's cool and calm direction.A film to watch if you want to explore cinematographic oeuvre of Francesco Rosi,one of Italian cinema's greatest directors.
Brave endeavour, intriguing but unsatisfying movie
vostf23 May 2023
Back then I am sure most of the praise Il caso Mattei got was reared on its courageous intent at solving a case that had been officially buried. The narrative is straightforward, going back in time with short vignettes of the aftermath of the 'accident'. It is powerful in a very efficient way, only showcasing the bits of info you need, with some real bits of emotion so you do not get too much time to dislike a chauvinist megalomaniac.
The point is that this storytelling is very artificial, it is kind of a roller-coaster: not very comfortable but you came here for the thrill, not the smooth transitions. Rossi mastered this kind of pseudo-documentarian genre. It worked for a while, about ten years just before conspiracy movies took over with a much more comprehensive approach, much more compelling storytelling skills.
Rossi sticks with his dream of an investigative documentary about Enrico Mattei. If his movie were a real documentary it would be awesome, beyond words. Alas it is all scripted. Gian-Maria Volontè is great but it is a one-man-show, in the end it feels as if we are cheated. Even the kidnapping of Mauro de Mauro sounds like something unreal (because, in Rossi's movie-making fashion, it is a raw fact nonchalantly dropped in here at the right moment in the timeline).
I can't help but think it would have been more interesting to tell the story from the point of view of this journalist. Less original, for sure. Basically this was the part played by Gian-Maria Volontè himself in A ciascuno il suo. But much more honest than aiming to dutifully depict, at full speed, the whole case rather than concentrating on the converging antagonisms in the months leading to the plane crash.
The point is that this storytelling is very artificial, it is kind of a roller-coaster: not very comfortable but you came here for the thrill, not the smooth transitions. Rossi mastered this kind of pseudo-documentarian genre. It worked for a while, about ten years just before conspiracy movies took over with a much more comprehensive approach, much more compelling storytelling skills.
Rossi sticks with his dream of an investigative documentary about Enrico Mattei. If his movie were a real documentary it would be awesome, beyond words. Alas it is all scripted. Gian-Maria Volontè is great but it is a one-man-show, in the end it feels as if we are cheated. Even the kidnapping of Mauro de Mauro sounds like something unreal (because, in Rossi's movie-making fashion, it is a raw fact nonchalantly dropped in here at the right moment in the timeline).
I can't help but think it would have been more interesting to tell the story from the point of view of this journalist. Less original, for sure. Basically this was the part played by Gian-Maria Volontè himself in A ciascuno il suo. But much more honest than aiming to dutifully depict, at full speed, the whole case rather than concentrating on the converging antagonisms in the months leading to the plane crash.
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