Good Morning, Night (2003)
"Buongiorno, notte" (original title)

The 1978 kidnapping of politician Aldo Moro as seen from the perspective of one of his assailants: a conflicted young woman in the ranks of the Red Brigade.

Director:

Marco Bellocchio

Writers:

Anna Laura Braghetti (book), Paola Tavella (book),

Stars:

Maya Sansa, Luigi Lo Cascio, Roberto Herlitzka

9 wins & 18 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Maya Sansa	...	Chiara
Luigi Lo Cascio	...	Mariano
Roberto Herlitzka	...	Aldo Moro
Paolo Briguglia	...	Enzo
Pier Giorgio Bellocchio	...	Ernesto
Giovanni Calcagno	...	Primo
Giulio Bosetti	...	Paolo VI (as Giulio Stefano Bosetti)
Gianni Schicchi	...	(as Gianni Schicchi Gabrieli)
Carlo Castelli
Bruno Cariello	...	Segretario del Papa
Alberto Cracco	...	Medium
Emanuela Barilozzi	...	Annalisa
Roberta Spagnuolo	...	Sandra
Giovanni Cappelli	...	Un impiegato
Antonio De Matteo	...	Fratello Chiara

Storyline

The movie is based on a true story. On 16 March 1978 Aldo Moro, the former Italian Prime Minister was kidnapped in Via Fani by the Brigate Rosse (Red Brigades), a militant Communist Italian group. He was the main supporter of the Compromesso Storico (Hystorical Compromise), which had to lead to the first Italian government supported by both the Christian Democrats and the Communists, in a period of social, economic and political crises. During the attack his five escort agents were all killed. Moro's corpse was found on 9 May 1978 in a car parked in a street between the headquarters of the Christian Democrat Party and the Communist Party. This movie is inspired by this tragic event which traumatize the whole nation. It focuses mainly on the relationship between the prisoner and his guards through the eyes of Chiara, the young woman whose role is to guard the prisoner. The movie portraits Chiara's life (her job as a librarian, the ordinary household) on one side and the political ...

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Plot Keywords:

communist | terrorist | pope | christian democrat | brigate rosse | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

5 September 2003 (Italy)

Also Known As:

Good Morning, Night

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$2,769 (USA) (11 November 2005)

Gross:

$10,093 (USA) (3 March 2006)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Filmalbatros, Rai Cinemafiction, Sky

Technical Specs

Runtime:

106 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

Near the end, when Aldo Moro walks away in the deserted street, you can see a multicolored Peace flag in the background. Those flags would decorate Italian streets only in 2003, to oppose the invasion of Iraq.

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Connections

Edited from Paisan (1946)

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Soundtracks

"The Great Gig In The Sky"
Written by Richard Wright
Performed by Pink Floyd
Courtesy of EMI Music Italy SpA
Under licence from Pink Floyd Publishing Ltd

User Reviews

Disillusionment

Marco Bellochio's Good Morning, Night is the story of four Red Brigadiers who kidnap and murder Aldo Moro, Italian Prime Minister and a leader in the Christian Democratic Party. Bellochio's main focus in the movie is the portrayal of lack of reality displayed by the Red Brigade members. This disillusionment is drawn out through the character Chiara, comparisons between the old and new, and the interviews with Aldo Moro while in captivity. The character, Chiara, is a most interesting one. She seems to be the only one of the Brigadiers who has any sense of reality or common sense. A librarian by trade and familial at home, Chiara is constantly confused towards the times and her involvement with the Red Brigade. This confusion is clearly depicted in her conversation with Enzo in the library as he correctly describes her in his screenplay. During this conversation, Enzo tells her that murder scares him yet if murder did not happen, the kidnapping would be meaningless but Chiara's seems to not comprehend this right away. They also engage in talk about reality vs imagination. She claims that imagination (concerning the screenplay) does nothing but the reality is that the screenplay is the truth. Confusion further sets in her mind. She even questions the murder with her comrades. Although she never changes in the movie, Bellochio uses Chiara to depict the confusion between reality and fantasy possessed by most Red Brigade members. Bellochio also uses comparison between the old and new to depict the lack of reality of the Brigadiers. The lunch and song scene with Chiara's family and the conversation amongst the youth is the ultimate exploration of this topic. Fischia il Vento, the song sung by the older family members is an adaptation of a Russian WWII folk song called Katyusha. The song was sung by many partisan groups in the Italian resistance movement who fought during WWII against the fascist governments in Italy and Germany who committed atrocious war crimes. Many of the older people sitting around the table were members of the WWII movement. Bellochio contrasts this older resistance, with moral and sensible goals, with the Brigadiers goals. From the conversation just before the song and during the whole movie, Bellochio implies that the Brigadiers just did not use their complete potential towards a moral cause. Finally, conversations between Aldo Moro and the Brigadiers are great executions of the theme, reality vs fantasy. Moro is the level headed mediator who is more in touch with reality than just about every character in the story. And his detainees are completely in touch with fictitious notions. In Moro's final pleas, he tells the Brigadiers that he will only become a martyr and that his death will not be beneficial to their cause. Moro even tries to explain to them that they both are working towards the same goals: peace and better lifestyle for the working class. The Red Brigadiers disillusionment is further amplified as the trial is claimed to be between the Christian Democratic Party and the Proletariats, whom the Brigadiers claim to represent. None of Moro's reasonable arguments work with the Brigadiers as he is tried and executed. Concluding, disillusionment is Bellochio's greatest implication towards this vicious act of brutality. He concerns himself with showing the viewers through Chiara, an older sense of morality and conversations, that the Red Brigade were just youth who did not understand that they live in such a strange world of hypocrisy.