Il Divo (DVD)

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Make some room in the political scandal and criminal underworld genre for "Il Divo," a recent release from MPI Home Video. This tense film experience has almost everything going for it, from dazzling individual performances to creative, innovative cinematography. It paints a rosy yet simultaneously turbulent picture for one man´s role in a complex political web, and attaches unsettling uncertainty to practically all scenes.

My guess is you´ve seen a film or two that deals with "the mob" or "a corrupt politician." There are many to choose from, and I´d put this one up near some really good ones. It isn´t "The Godfather," but it exudes almost equally strong individual performances and execution by the crew involved. I don´t follow Italian cinema or film all that closely, but some casual Internet digging tells me this movie did something right.

In 2008, "Il Divo" won the Jury Prize, casually dubbed the third best film trophy, at the annual Cannes Film Festival. Later, it won seven Italian Oscars, called David di Donatello awards, and racked up numerous positive reviews from critics across the country and Europe. Unsurprisingly, the film hasn´t exactly taken off here in the United States, but a domestic DVD release probably won´t hurt its case. There´s very low hanging fruit here, but it needs to be picked before it spoils. Hopefully you´ll reach for "Il Divo;" my guess is you´ll enjoy it immensely.

Simply put, the film chronicles the political rises and falls in former Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti´s lengthy career. Since 1946, the actual Andreotti has been in Italy´s parliament. Today he´s 90 years old, and holds a Lifetime Senator title in addition to nearly immeasurable controversy. Consistently prominent in Italy´s Christian Democratic Party, Andreotti is a devoted Catholic and family man who you wouldn´t think twice about if you passed him on the street. During his most prominent reign (the late 1970s through the early 1990s, also the years chronicled in the film), Andreotti blended in with little difficulty and attracted virtually no attention, yet wielded power without thinking twice about it.

This film really begins and ends with Toni Servillo´s spectacular performance. After I finished the DVD, I looked up some clips where Andreotti is speaking or being interviewed, and actually think Servillo´s portrayal is better than the real Andreotti. Maybe Servillo is too good, especially considering Andreotti couldn´t make it through the entire film during a premiere showing and walked out, frustrated with how he was made out to be emotionless. Servillo practically embodied Andreotti down to the slightest mannerism, from playing with his hands during certain situations (specific actions each have their own meaning, such as tapping all ten fingers together or rotating his wedding ring) to shifting his weight to tilting his head back and swallowing Alka-Seltzer.

"Il Divo" is pretty fast paced, and jumps from one decade or year to another with little warning. Plus, it´s entirely in Italian, so you´ll have to keep up on the English subtitles if you don´t speak the language. The story starts off in 1991, with Andreotti piecing his administration together (he was settling his foundation for what turned out to be his last term, but served in the same role from 1972-1973 and 1976-1979) from many worthy friends and acquaintances. While getting his entourage in order, he is also preparing for a trial resulting from multiple investigations and accusations into his relationship with Italy´s mafia. To this day, Andreotti maintains his innocence and points to his political record while in office as a sign he adamantly opposed mafia relations.

During Andreotti´s second term as Prime Minister, his predecessor and opposite side political rival, Aldo Moro, was abducted by the Red Brigades. The militant group´s Marxist-Leninist political agenda made Moro an obvious target, and when Andreotti refused to negotiate his release over almost two months time, Moro was killed. Andreotti maintained that he wouldn´t negotiate with terrorists, but many outsiders felt he held a role in the capture and assassination, or simply didn´t deal because he saw a way to get rid of a political foe and rival. If you stack this incident under multiple other murders and suicides from various political figures during these years, Andreotti looks extremely guilty, or at least suspicious.

What´s funny is that throughout the film, we see a calm, cool and collected Andreotti. If this man was indeed responsible for extensive killings and had ties to the mob, you wouldn´t really know it by how Servillo plays the part. He´s often reserved, especially in a group, and doesn´t appear to have any significant charisma. Whatever Andreotti did to become the powerful figure he is, complete with a fully armed ten-man detail team tracking his every step, we don´t see it in "Il Divo." We see few orders given and even fewer actions taken, yet this man is clearly in control.

Through countless flashbacks, conversations with his wife Livia (Anna Bonaiuto) and interactions with high-ranking officials in the church, we learn more about Andreotti. He loves children, and gives some less fortunate kids a few toys at one point. He appears stressed and restless throughout, downing Alka-Seltzer more often than anything else. His colleagues do the talking and some decision making, and he lets his lesser role go public while maintaining a prominent role in private. Andreotti doesn´t strike me as the person who would just be a political puppet, but instead like a man who knew which battles he wanted and those he didn´t.