Italian filmmakers bugged about Berlusconi

By Peter Kiefer

ROME (Hollywood Reporter) – He may play a love-drunk poet
in his latest film, “The Tiger and the Snow,” but in real life
actor-director Roberto Benigni has resumed his role as
political dissident.

The Oscar-winning comedian’s renewed political zeal is part
of a growing movement in Italy’s left-leaning artistic
community that has galvanized against the center-right Prime
Minister Silvio Berlusconi ahead of a general election due in
spring.

The uprising in the arts includes a string of movies
explicitly targeting Berlusconi, whose tight grip on the
country’s media through his Mediaset empire provides plenty of
ammunition to opponents with concerns about free speech.

In August, the political documentary “Viva Zapatero!” was
the sleeper hit of the Venice International Film Festival,
receiving a 15-minute standing ovation after its premiere
screening. Dubbed by several critics as Italy’s “Fahrenheit
9/11,” the film follows the real-life events surrounding
comedian Sabina Guzzanti (who also directs the film) and her
political satire show “RAIot Weapons of Mass Distraction,”
which was canceled by state-run broadcaster RAI in 2003 after a
legal and political squeeze was put on by Berlusconi’s ruling
Forza Italia Party.

The film documents the perceived deterioration of the
Italian media over the past 10 years, the alleged censorship of
Italian journalists under the Berlusconi administration, and
the supposed complicity of the center-left opposition for
failing to denounce what was going on.

With a modest rollout, the film remained in Italy’s top 10
for three weekends running, has so far earned about $2 million
on home turf, and has been sold to many European territories
including Spain, France, Switzerland and the Netherlands.

Guzzanti says that cinema seemed a logical outlet for
political discourse, considering the unprecedented control of
television in the hands of the elected leadership.

“All we have had is the television, but the TV avoids
talking about the things that people want to hear,” says
Guzzanti.

Opposition to Italy’s backing for the invasion of Iraq is
also high on the artists’ agenda. Just days after leading
thousands at a star-studded rally in Rome to protest yet
another massive cut to Italy’s cultural budget, Benigni took to
the airwaves to denounce his country’s role: “On television
(the war in) Iraq is continually represented with these scenes
of horror to which we’ve become indifferent,” Benigni said.
“But cinema is another means to elaborate on this huge mourning
that is going on in Iraq,” he added, referring to his latest
film, which is partially set in that country during the war.

In March, just weeks before the April 9 election, the
highly anticipated new project from another of Italy’s most
important and politically engaged directors, Nanni Moretti,
will hit theaters. The title of the project — “Il Caimano” —
is a direct reference to the nickname bestowed by the left-wing
press on Berlusconi: the caiman. The film, which is in
postproduction under a shroud of secrecy, is described as a
fictionalized no-holds-barred take on Berlusconi, who has
doubled as the country’s leader and unrivaled media mogul since
he was elected in 2001.

In addition, a pair of productions are in the works with a
shared central plot — the fictional assassination of
Berlusconi. Both films are dramas. “Shooting Silvio” by upstart
director Berardo Carboni is a fictional take on a writer
obsessed with the idea of killing the prime minister, while
“Who Killed Silvio Berlusconi?” is an adaptation of a book by
journalist Giuseppe Caruso.

The clamor of protest has also hit the small screen. Late
last year, anti-Berlusconi sentiment in the media reached fever
pitch with the soaring success of the television show
“Rockpolitik,” hosted by former singer Adriano Celentano. The
show scored record ratings with its open criticism of
Berlusconi as Celentano hosted a string of high-profile guests
including rocker Vasco Rossi, Benigni and Guzzanti.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter