MovieChat Forums > Il divo (2008) Discussion > let petri alone, fer crissake!

let petri alone, fer crissake!

posted 16 years ago by feecarabine65
7 replies | jump to latest

the gentleman from venice obviously has never seen a petri movie (aside from "todo modo", that is) and has never had the opportunity to meet, face to face, petri's taste for the grotesque, or be exposed to gian maria volonte's performing skills. what a pity!
actually, as much as i have enjoyed sorrentino's film, i wonder much on his intentions: if he wanted to wave a eulogy for the ancient italian senator, he's been quite successful. his "giulio" comes out as an almost divine figure in the post-tangentopoli italian political arena (especially, in today's italian politics). corrupt? only insofar as power corrupts (but his old saying about this was: power corrupts those who don't have it). he is grandiose, in this portrayal; he's above all human imperfections (save for his headaches) and the recurring image of the bubbling aspirine stresses metaphorically his aloofness from human weaknesses.
artistically, a very good movie. politically, no.

[–] latinese 16 years ago

I agree with you that Sorrentino's movie isn't as good as Todo Modo, and Servillo is not as impressive as Volonté... though it should be said that probably Servillo wasn't so fool as to try to out-Volontè Volontè. His rendering of Andreotti is more on the grotesque side. It reminds me of Oreste Lionello, if one has to be honest. As for the film, I don't think it's a glorification of Andreotti, but sure it has its own ambiguities. I am not even sure I have really liked the film, though it's one of those that you cannot see just once. There are small details with are probably more important than they seem if you see it only once (for example when Andreotti says he wanted to be considered an intellectual, or when his wife tells him he's not as clever as he wants people think he is), and some scenes are simply puzzling (when he tells Cossiga that he was in love with Vittorio Gassmann's sister). Then, once might ask himself whether Andreotti was so much worse than the current Prime Minister, but that's another story...

[–] carax3 16 years ago

The current prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, is waaaaaay worse than Andreotti...
I hate Andreotti, anyway. But I hate Berlusconi more. I'm Italian, by the way. And... I'm very happy that today USA have choose Obama. I hope that soon or later Italians will understand that Berlusconi is not a solution but THE problem.

[–] modica-1 16 years ago

Your is pure nostalgic behavour.
It'not Petri, it's a Sorrentino 2008 film. Another style, don't compare.
Petri's cinema is not the only way to make politic films, so this wasn't an answer to Elio Petri movies of 70's.

I felt surprised by the force of this movie. Simply GREAT!

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] 16 years ago

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[–] palmiro 10 years ago

Andreotti's remark in Italian, "Il potere logora chi non ce l'ha", means that power wears down those who don't have it--in short, it's better to have power than to be without it. Otherwise, agree with your overall view of the film and its failure to measure up to the highest standard of quality Italian films. More than Petri, Francesco Rosi comes to mind as a director who would have done a far superior job of it.

[–] 10 years ago

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