Romanzo criminale (2005)
Country: IT/FR/GB
Technical: col/2.35:1 152m
Director: Michele Placido
Cast: Kim Rossi Stuart, Anna Mouglalis, Pierfrancesco Favino, Claudio Santamaria, Stefano Accorsi
Synopsis:
The formation, rise and inevitable demise of a gang of street kids during Italy's 'anni di piombo'. Criminals in control of drugs, prostitution and gambling become the instruments of business and state vested interest groups, to the frustration of Rome's police commissioner.
Review:
C'era una volta Italia, one might wrily term this gangland saga, set during the turbulent years of the 1970s, when Christian Democrats, Communists and neo-fascists vied for control of the State, and the latter's eminences grises did everything possible to withhold it. It's less sentimental than Leone's vision, whose protagonists nevertheless did no less unspeakable things, and is based on an actual gang of the period, via the novel of Giancarlo de Cataldo. The speed of the narrative, and the dozens of characters of dubious alliance, make for an at times confusing ride (hence doubtless the need for the TV mini-series that followed), but its vision of crime's ineluctable corollary is as cogent as that of The Public Enemy seven decades earlier, and the film-making is never less than stunning.
Country: IT/FR/GB
Technical: col/2.35:1 152m
Director: Michele Placido
Cast: Kim Rossi Stuart, Anna Mouglalis, Pierfrancesco Favino, Claudio Santamaria, Stefano Accorsi
Synopsis:
The formation, rise and inevitable demise of a gang of street kids during Italy's 'anni di piombo'. Criminals in control of drugs, prostitution and gambling become the instruments of business and state vested interest groups, to the frustration of Rome's police commissioner.
Review:
C'era una volta Italia, one might wrily term this gangland saga, set during the turbulent years of the 1970s, when Christian Democrats, Communists and neo-fascists vied for control of the State, and the latter's eminences grises did everything possible to withhold it. It's less sentimental than Leone's vision, whose protagonists nevertheless did no less unspeakable things, and is based on an actual gang of the period, via the novel of Giancarlo de Cataldo. The speed of the narrative, and the dozens of characters of dubious alliance, make for an at times confusing ride (hence doubtless the need for the TV mini-series that followed), but its vision of crime's ineluctable corollary is as cogent as that of The Public Enemy seven decades earlier, and the film-making is never less than stunning.
Country: IT/FR/GB
Technical: col/2.35:1 152m
Director: Michele Placido
Cast: Kim Rossi Stuart, Anna Mouglalis, Pierfrancesco Favino, Claudio Santamaria, Stefano Accorsi
Synopsis:
The formation, rise and inevitable demise of a gang of street kids during Italy's 'anni di piombo'. Criminals in control of drugs, prostitution and gambling become the instruments of business and state vested interest groups, to the frustration of Rome's police commissioner.
Review:
C'era una volta Italia, one might wrily term this gangland saga, set during the turbulent years of the 1970s, when Christian Democrats, Communists and neo-fascists vied for control of the State, and the latter's eminences grises did everything possible to withhold it. It's less sentimental than Leone's vision, whose protagonists nevertheless did no less unspeakable things, and is based on an actual gang of the period, via the novel of Giancarlo de Cataldo. The speed of the narrative, and the dozens of characters of dubious alliance, make for an at times confusing ride (hence doubtless the need for the TV mini-series that followed), but its vision of crime's ineluctable corollary is as cogent as that of The Public Enemy seven decades earlier, and the film-making is never less than stunning.