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Italian filmmakers bugged about Berlusconi

Posted on: Tuesday, 10 January 2006, 06:29 CST

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

Source: REUTERS

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