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

"Marcia trionfale"
(from "Aida")
Composed by Giuseppe Verdi
Performed by Orchestra e Coro del Teatro dell'Opera di Roma
Conducted by Georg Solti
Decca Records, 1962

User Reviews

a fiction to look back !

Based on a novel, the film describes the situation of Aldo Moro during his captivity. There is more than a meticulous realistic point of view given in this film : it tries to figure thoughts and attitudes of the kidnappers, members of brigate rosse. It explores the contradictions of hidden activists who are desperately trying to justify violent actions by the salvation of proletariat and rise of a social justice. They are seen in their loneliness, especially on the affective, emotional side. The psycho-rigidity of their mind is patent, not only in the sententious talks to their prisoner, in a certain desperate naivety to seek echos of their action in public opinion throughout medias, but also in the way they rule relationships. It's not politically that Moro's character strongly opposes to his kidnappers' characters, but rather in the way he's emotionnaly tied to his family (although being a prisonner, he can write letters), while the others seem alienated facing their own families (Mariano pretends to have cut any link to his son, Chiara tries to avoid familial phone calls and meetings, another member is mad about being away of his girl and suffers to be away from her mind and point of view when he sees her). Together, those members don't look like a family of a new kind. Maybe is it the main limit of Bellochio's movie, not to explore the way such an internal and autistic logical builds inside radical groups. But the movie spots a clearly defined place and time, focusing exclusively on elements linked to Moro's detention in a casual apartment (the gunfight of the kidnapping and then the death of the prisonner are seen indirectly throughout television). The strength of the movie is to develop a symbolic aspect with the character of Chiara's colleague (of her cover work) who defends imagination against the brutality of autocratic arbitrary. Almost fantastically, this character seems to guess Chiara's situation, writing a fiction about the events (like the movie we're effectively seeing as spectators) and modifying her feelings : when she realizes how any execution is horrible and unfair (reminding executions of italian partisani of WWII), it's too late and there is no other escape than in her own imagination (dream-like scene that the film also shows us). I believe it's a good and clever way to introduce us into such a historical event (maybe still wounding italian society), imagination. I also like the aspects and details of the movie that describe the importance of christianity in the conscience of the italians (even marxists ones, subconsciously) and critizises the sacrificial consensus into a falsely ineluctable execution but real murder.