ironhorse_iv Review of Il Divo

Il Divo (2008)

And you thought America's politicians were brutal... just ask Italy

[7/10 · 25 October 2012]

For over 50 years, seven- time Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti ruled as the most fear politician in Italy. He was accused of masterminding a Mafia/Neo Fascist/ Vatican conspiracy to kill leaders in the Italian's government which includes party members, judges, and government journalists. Based on those true events, the movie follows that guideline in telling the life of the man known to the public as "the black pope', 'Beelzebub' and "Il Divo' brilliant play by Toni Servillo and directed by Paolo Sorrentino. Toni's Andreotti look like the Six Flag Guy if only he was a gangster. His rigid gestures and the cruel language of his voice and use of his word gives you reason why they call him the 'Prince of Darkness' and 'Hunchback'. Politics is everything to him, and politics means the pursuit of power. He is willing to get it in any cost. The movie is violence—but respectable with it. It's hard to say, if Giulio Andreotti did all those stuff, that he was accused of, but it's seems more truth than fiction. Just the fact that he repeated convictions for Mafia ties in the past decade, remains the title of "senator for life" shows how much power this man had. As of this writing, the man behind of the movie, is still alive, and not in jail. It's tells you a lot about politics in Italy. Thus it felt like a politically charged movie. The film fails to live up to the subtitle 'The extraordinary life of Giulio Andreotti". It's mostly focus on his so-call crimes, and accused acts with the Mafia, barely about the life of the man at all. The movie shows how he been able to get close to getting catch, but end up getting away. The movie pace is slow at times, and feels kinda wordy and philosophy. The cinematography is amazing; angle shots of some scenes may ask you, how on earth did they film it in that angle. Great use of props and locations, the use of slow movements frames and lights in the scenes is awesome! The text describing the names and job of the characters listed is a bit too small to see, would advices watching the movie with sub-titles. The background music is catchy. Mixed with the classic music, drumming, Italian pop and modern electronic music, the use of playing and stopping the music mid-through it, when something dramatic happens, and then picks up after it, is chilling. The use of background sounds like whispers, trains, tape rewinder, are well-used to depiction an inside look of the mind of the man. There seems to be a Godfather feel to the movie, to the point, that the fictional character Don Licio Lucchesi from the movie The Godfather Part III, a high-ranking Italian politician with close ties to the Mafia, was modeled on Andreotti's ties with the Mafia. Those who doesn't know anything about Italian history, will figure out in the first 5 minutes opening of the movie Il Divo that will definitive summary of Italian political history where sadly corruption and murder is the key to power. Watch the cold, detached, and analytical movie throughout, and ask yourself when finish. How does a man like this get away with murder? Not all movies, the good guys win and the bad guys pay the price for their crimes.