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IMDbPro

Shooting the Mafia

  • 20192019
  • 1h 34m
IMDb RATING
6.8/10
672
YOUR RATING
Letizia Battaglia in Shooting the Mafia (2019)
Sicilian photographer Letizia Battaglia began a lifelong battle with the Mafia when she first dared to point her camera at a brutally slain victim. A woman whose passions led her to abandon traditional family life and become a photojournalist in the 1970s, the first female photographer to be employed by an Italian daily newspaper, Battaglia found herself on the front lines during one of the bloodiest chapters in Italys recent history. She fearlessly and artfully captured everyday Sicilian life from weddings and funerals to the grisly murders of ordinary citizens to tell the narrative of how the community she loved in her native Palermo was forced into silence by the Cosa Nostra. Weaving together Battaglias striking black-and-white photographs, rare archival footage, classic Italian films, and the now 84-year-olds own memories, Shooting the Mafia paints a portrait of a remarkable woman whose whose bravery and defiance helped expose the Mafias brutal crimes.
Play trailer2:00
1 Video
10 Photos
Documentary
Italian photographer Letizia Battaglia spends her career documenting the life and crimes of the Mafia.Italian photographer Letizia Battaglia spends her career documenting the life and crimes of the Mafia.Italian photographer Letizia Battaglia spends her career documenting the life and crimes of the Mafia.
IMDb RATING
6.8/10
672
YOUR RATING
    • Kim Longinotto
  • Stars
    • Letizia Battaglia
    • Mariachiara di Trapani
    • Eduardo Rebulla
    • Kim Longinotto
  • Stars
    • Letizia Battaglia
    • Mariachiara di Trapani
    • Eduardo Rebulla
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 8User reviews
    • 40Critic reviews
    • 61Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards

    Videos1

    Shooting the Mafia | Official US Trailer
    Trailer 2:00
    Watch Shooting the Mafia | Official US Trailer

    Photos10

    Kim Longinotto in Shooting the Mafia (2019)
    Shooting the Mafia (2019)
    Shooting the Mafia (2019)
    Shooting the Mafia (2019)
    Shooting the Mafia (2019)
    Letizia Battaglia in Shooting the Mafia (2019)
    Letizia Battaglia in Shooting the Mafia (2019)
    Letizia Battaglia in Shooting the Mafia (2019)
    Shooting the Mafia (2019)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Letizia Battaglia
    • Self
    Mariachiara di Trapani
    Eduardo Rebulla
    Santi Caleca
    Franco Zecchin
    Roberto Timperi
    Salvatore Riina
    Salvatore Riina
    • Self
    • (archive footage)
      • Kim Longinotto
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

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    Did you know

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    • Soundtracks
      O Sole Mio
      Written by Giovanni Capurro, Eduardo Di Capua and Alfredo Mazzucchi

      Performed by Enrico Caruso

    User reviews8

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    A fine companion to The Irishman and Little Women.
    "The first woman (news) photographer in Italy," says Letizia Battaglia of herself.

    If Letizia is not that, she is the most daring and outspoken of the bunch. If like me you have some Sicilian DNA in your makeup, you'll want to see this intrepid photographer in Shooting the Mafia begin her career with Wegee-like street photographs and then slip into depicting the Sicilian curse of the Mafia, whose bloody business makes The Irishman look like a school picnic.

    Documentarian Kim Longinotto has a similar gift capturing the aging red-headed Battaglia as she reminisces about the Cosa Nostra's corrosive effect on Sicily. In addition, she shows her challenges making their images of brutality meaningful, as well as her many love affairs, some of whom appear in the doc.

    In all it's a full look at the robust and dangerous life of Sicily seen through a Pentax and video cameras. The images that don't work as effectively are the large crowd scenes of demonstrators protesting the Mafia. Sometimes, there are images even closer up that don't quite fit the narrative. A shot of Mount Vesuvius erupting goes too far the other way, figuratively speaking.

    No moment in this doc is dull; images are powerful. The film at times cross edits shots of Battaglia as a lovely, animated young woman who tells us of her burden being a young mother not allowed to break through education to a more expansive life.

    This engrossing doc is pervaded by the undaunted spirit of Battaglia. She is a modern feminist heroine, a companion to the current Little Women. She fearlessly looks in the Mafia's face and photographs it for the world to see the evil that has been in Sicily for centuries. Come to think of it, Shooting the Mafia is also an illustrative companion to the current Irishman and the legendary Godfather.

    Also read Theresa Maggio's The Stone Boudoir: Travels Through the Hidden Villages of Italy for a benign view of this beautiful country sans gangsters.

    Even for old jaded me, further insights abound, such as my realization that respect is a building block of the Sicilian character. Young men are shown acting out becoming part of the mob, looking to become someone who is admired as he strolls the streets. For me, I now know why I demand a swift return to my emails: respect!

    "Photographing trauma is embarrassing." Battaglia
    helpful•6
    3
    • jdesando
    • Jan 3, 2020

    Details

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    • Release date
      • November 22, 2019 (United States)
      • United States
      • Ireland
    • Official sites
      • Official Facebook
      • Official site
      • Italian
    • Also known as
      • Palermo, Provincia di Palermo, Sicily, Italy
    • Production companies
      • Lunar Pictures
      • Impact Partners
      • Fís Éireann / Screen Ireland
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

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    • 1 hour 34 minutes
      • Color

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