Il divo (2008)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Director:

Paolo Sorrentino

Writer:

Paolo Sorrentino (writer)

Release Date:

28 May 2008 (Italy)

Genre:

Biography | Drama | History

Plot:

The story of Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti, who has been elected to Parliament seven times since is was established in 1946. |

Plot Keywords:

Parliament | Italy | French Accent | Nonlinear Timeline | 1990s

Awards:

9 wins & 14 nominations

US Showtimes:

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Cast

Toni Servillo	...	Giulio Andreotti
Anna Bonaiuto	...	Livia Danese
Piera Degli Esposti	...	Signora Enea
Paolo Graziosi	...	Aldo Moro
Giulio Bosetti	...	Eugenio Scalfari
Flavio Bucci	...	Franco Evangelisti
Carlo Buccirosso	...	Paolo Cirino Pomicino
Giorgio Colangeli	...	Salvo Lima
Alberto Cracco	...	Don Mario
Lorenzo Gioielli	...	Mino Pecorelli
Gianfelice Imparato	...	Vincenzo Scotti
Massimo Popolizio	...	Vittorio Sbardella
Aldo Ralli	...	Giuseppe Ciarrapico
Giovanni Vettorazzo	...	Magistrato Scarpinato
Cristina Serafini	...	Caterina Stagno

Also Known As:

Il divo (France)
Il divo: La straordinaria vita di Giulio Andreotti (Italy) (long title)
Untitled Giulio Andreotti Biopic (Italy) (working title)

Runtime:

110 min

Country:

Italy | France

Language:

Italian | English

Color:

Color | Black and White (inserts only)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Certification:

Italy:T | Canada:14A | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Ireland:15A | UK:15 | USA:Not Rated | Netherlands:16 | Argentina:16

Filming Locations:

Montecitorio, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company:

Indigo Film

Quotes:

Giulio Andreotti: The most difficult dictatorship to hate is your own.

Soundtrack:

Nux Vomica

A good starting point to understand Italian politics

"Il divo" (i.e. "the divine") is a view of Italian politics in the 70ies, 80ies and 90ies, centered on its main character: the 5 times prime minister Giulio Andreotti. He is a tiny man, quite fragile looking (hunpback, dog-eared), but very witty, and with a huge aura of power around him (one of his famous aphorism is: power tires those who don't have it). He was a controversial character: first depicted quite as a saint, then as the great maneuverer, and at last as a politician able to welcome the evil to reach his aims. At first sight, this movie surprised me. First of all i was surprised by the ironical and grotesque cut that Sorrentino gave to his movie. Then i was surprised by the judgement suspension that this movie gives to the main character: yes, of course, there are tons of evidences that Andreotti had to do with evil persons to keep his power, but the movie director never says "he is the evil". At the second sight i found out there is more. At the second sight the main character faded into the whole background. This is a movie about Italian politics as a whole. This movies points out how italy has become the country that is nowadays. It shows the slow downhill starting from the first idealists of the republic (such as DeGasperi), down to politics such as Andreotti (for whom "a tree needs manure to grow up", a sort of Machiavelli's "a greater aim justifies any deed"), down until the politics that just want power for power's sake (for this reason the portrait of Cirino Pomicino - this name looks like a joke, but it isn't! - is wonderful). So no surprise when you read about an Italian politician that is judged for corruption or something even worse: it's the consequence of the downhill of the politics that common citizens cannot stop anymore, simply because citizens have no power anymore, it is all in politicians' hands and they share it from hand to hand. I can understand that foreign viewers can find this movie boring and difficult to understand. But forget for a moment it is a movie about Giulio Andreotti, and watch it as the history of 30 years of a real country's politics. Veeery frightening the scene in which Andreotti, caught by insomnia, walks in an empty street surrounded by a 20 men's heavy armed escort. In a "normal" country, straight people should be able to walk safely in any street with no need of any escort at all. That's all imho...