7/10
Good idea, not so good result
30 July 2007
Warning: Spoilers
On March 16th 1978, Aldo Moro, Italian MP and president of the Christian Democrats Party (DC) is kidnapped by Brigate Rosse, a communist terrorist group. All members of his escort are killed. Aldo Moro was kept prisoner for 55 days before being killed and his body abandoned in a Red Renault 4 in via Caetani, in the centre of Rome, halfway between the DC's headquarter and the Communist Party's (PCI) headquarters. The official story is that the kidnap and the consequent murder has been a political act from Brigate Rosse.

There have been several enquiries on the matter but to date there is no official and plausible truth. Everyone who has been in contact with this "matter" has been killed, some times through spectacular murders some other times through "accidents". The other people who posted a comment are right: this is a sort of Italian JFK. Unfortunately I am not sure that that is could have been a similar movie. Italy did not have a Jim Garrison who actually pursued the case. A couple of Parliamentary Investigations, a handful of court trials to the terrorists involved along with the official investigation but nothing that could be turned into another JFK.

The movie is OK. Although I have to confess I was expecting something better. The actors are really good and the plot plausible. A judge (D. Sutherlnad) about to retire receive a mysterious super8 movie about the logistic of Aldo Moro's kidnap. The judge, along with a younger colleague (S. Rocca) and his bodyguard (G. Giannini), tried to find the answer to what really happened that day and who benefited from all that. The theories "thought" in this movie (the terrorists incongruent testimonial, the links to other excellent death…) can be found in the books written by Sergio Flamigni, one of the MP in the Parliamentary Commission created to investigate the matter. However I have the feeling that here the information is fed to the viewer without a logical sequence resulting a bit sketchy and possibly a bit difficult to follow for those who haven't got some knowledge of the facts.

Aldo Moro's story has all the fact of a good thriller and conspiracy theory: CIA, Vatican, the Mossad, the Masonic element of P2 who controlled all operations during those 55 days, and a mafia involvement. It seems that everyone was actually interested not to let Aldo Moro to make a deal with the Communists in order to maintain a delicate political balance that could have change the European history.

If you have some interest in Italian situation in the '70ies you might like the idea of the movie although it probably won't add any new element to your knowledge. If you don't, it still is a decent thriller, very well acted and directed although the end is of no surprise if you have a sharp eye.
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