Gian Maria Volontè

Enrico Mattei had been a powerful and charismatic public figure in Italy in the immediate postwar era. Appointed to wind up the Italian Petroleum Agency, he had instead expanded it and used the new company, ENI, to both explore new sources of energy for Italy and to create a personal power base within the Italian political scene. Machiavellian and idealistic at the same time, Mattei openly used the company’s funds to bribe politicians of all persuasions to support its ventures. An energetic and astute entrepreneur, Mattei resented the big American companies’ control over oil prices and so initiated direct discussions with Russia and with a number of Arab countries in order to procure cheaper oil for Italy and, in the process, a better deal for the producing countries.Read More »

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A country road glimpsed through a dirty windscreen… a mangled car wreck on a garage forecourt…Volonté blowing up an inflatable coat hanger and reminding his assistant that ‘it’s the details that count’. And so they clearly do in Goretta’s film, although quite what they add up to is never sharply defined. A crippled TV journalist (Volonté) arrives in a Swiss village to interview a specialist in world food shortages disillusioned by the non-application of his theories. But he soon becomes embroiled in a web of local intrigue resulting from the death of a young immigrant worker. Goretta counterpoints his two stories with deft assurance, letting them strike subdued ironies off one another; there are thematic strands galore here, clearly signposted but seemingly left deliberately smudged. Yet there is no shortage of delights either: fine atmospherics, immaculately fluid camerawork, and a towering performance from Volonté, sympathy and disdain flickering back and forth across those marvellously expressive features.Read More »

On March 16, 1978, the Red Brigades kidnapped the head of Christian Democracy, the party in power in Italy since the end of the war. Fifty-five days later, his corpse was found in the trunk of a red Renault. Moro was not only the victim of the Brigades but also of the struggle for power between the Italian parties.Read More »

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Fascism has forced the leadership of the Italian Communist Party to settle in Paris. In Italy arrests of militants are decimating the organization, so Emilio is sent on a mission in the area of Turin, to put out of harm whistleblowers.Read More »

Sicilia, late ’60s. Two men are killed during a hunting party. The hurried inquiry indicates that it was a killing made for ‘honor’ reasons. Paolo Laurana is a leftist professor not convinced of the official truth and starts investigating by himself. He finds some help from a solicitor, Mr. Rosello. While investigating, he is fascinated by Luisa, the widow of one of the victims. But the reality is too different from what Laurana could imagine. Reality includes not only the mafia and corrupt politicians, but also Church connections. The reality is that there could be only one end for Laurana. It won’t take long. [IMDb.com]Read More »

A populist right-wing tabloid newspaper tries to derail the official police investigation of a brutal murder of a young girl in order to help the fascist and right-wing candidates it supports in the upcoming elections.

Sbatti il mostro in prima pagina (Italian: “Slam the Monster on the Frontpage”) is a 1972 Italian drama film directed by Marco Bellocchio.Read More »

Stendhal’s epic tale of a young French officer in the Napoleonic wars, and his aunt – a duchess of legendary beauty and resourcefulness.Read More »

Salvatore (Gian Maria Volonte) lives in a rural environment on the island, and when he becomes fed up with Mafia tactics, he swings into action. First he convinces the farmers and workers that they can band together, and then he convinces them to go on strike against their exploitative employers. The results bring tragedy in their wake, but the beginnings of a unified stance against the mobsters takes hold.Read More »

Synopsis:
In 1920, the anarchist Italian immigrants Nicola Sacco (Riccardo Cucciolla) and Bartolomeo Vanzetti (Gian Maria Volonté) are sentenced to death, falsely accused of a robbery and murder. Indeed they are condemned due to their political beliefs, in one of the most shameful and hypocrite judgments of the human history.Read More »