Hands Over The City (DVD)

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The first shot of Francesco Rosi's "Hands Over the City" is a literal depiction of the title. The camera sweeps over the city of Naples in a wide panorama and ends up on the outstretched hands of real estate developer Edoardo Nottola (Rod Steiger) who gestures to the city below as he discusses his plans to expand the city, as well as his own business. The next shot performs nearly the same function: a group of city councilmen, hands also outstretched, stand over a model of the city, announcing their intentions to make Naples a better place for everyone to live: "Now where there's only a squalid expanse, the city will bring roads, water, power, gas, and all other necessary improvements."

Contracts are signed, construction machinery hums and whirls. The promise of modernist progress hangs in the air… until the walls of an apartment building come tumbling down. Careless planning by the construction crew causes the accident, in which several residents die, and the city council leaps into action to discover what went wrong. Well, "leaps" might not be the right term, how about "lopes" into action? No? "Circles aimlessly in the general vicinity of, but never particularly close to, a real investigation?" That's more like it. The 9/11 Commission must have used this as a template.

While the people of Naples cry for justice, the narrative follows the machinations of city councilmen to cover their own asses, and of Nottola to keep alive his bid for the commissioner's office. None of them, politician and businessman alike, could care less about the dead or injured, not even a hospital-bed-ridden young boy whose sad face would surely have ended many a political career if only local media been interested enough to show it. Councilman De Vita, a Communist, is the only man who exhibits any interest in uncovering the truth, a Sisyphean task considering the obstacles he runs into in the form of cover-ups and bureaucratic red tape. Nottola and his council cronies made sure every "i" was dotted, and every palm greased, leaving bulldog De Vita to bite on granite.

In terms of content, Rosi's film carries all the hallmarks of Italian neo-realism. It's filmed in the city (Naples) and deals with real-life issues: in this case, the corruption of city government, and its effects on a disenfranchised populace. But "Hands Over the City" bears only a passing resemblance to the films of Rossellini or De Sica, and then only in its occasional use of non-professional actors. Rosi's film actually represents a hybrid, merging the socio-political concerns of neo-realism with an overtly theatrical style of film-making, replete with baroque camera angles, jarring cuts, and over-the-top performances. For the most, Rosi's innovative approach works, except for Piero Piccioni's intrusive and distracting score. The "documentary" flavor of traditional neo-realism is mostly lost, but they are hardly missed with Rosi's virtuoso touch.

Rod Steiger, as Nottola, plays the nominal protagonist, but this is a film about an entire system, not any one man. Nottola styles himself a power broker, but he learns that even the city's most influential business man can be cast aside (and then embraced once again) in the name of political expediency. Steiger's performance is intense, brooding, and entirely physical since he is dubbed by an Italian actor. Far more interesting and nuanced is the character of De Vita, as his would-be adversary. De Vita is played by non-professional actor Carlo Fermariello, who was, in fact, a Naples councilman and a union official. He's certainly the character the audience sympathizes with the most, even as he flails helplessly about in the quicksand of local politics, being sucked under with grueling inevitability.