Did you people see the same film I saw?

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

In the 1970s, moderate Christian Democrat leader Aldo Moro proposed a historic compromise with the Communist party, whereupon more radical leftists abducted, imprisoned and ultimately killed him. Aside from the personal tragedy, one can wonder if Italy lost the chance of a better future. But how can a group of supposed idealists kill an essentially innocent man, and moreover, one of the more decent politicians of his age? Only, we learn, by abstracting away from humanity. Director Marco Bellocchio was himself once involved in radical politics, enough to understand; and his film about the Moro kidnapping is austere, showing not telling the bleak lives of the captives and captors alike. The soundtrack is heavier than it needs to be, and there's not a lot to soften the mood, nor even lengthy political discussions: the decision to kill is taken, and what follows, follows. Pschologically, the film seems on the mark; but it might have been more interesting with a bit more back story and context.

On March 16, 1978, Aldo Moro, the Prime Minister of Italy, was kidnapped by a group of Communist revolutionaries known as the Red Brigade and held in captivity for 55 days. Through letters and photos sent by the kidnappers, the authorities learned that Moro had been given a "trial" by the Red Brigade and sentenced to death for his crimes against the proletariat of Italy - and, indeed, on May 9th of that year, his body was found, riddled with ten rounds of bullets, in the trunk of an abandoned car.In "Good Morning, Night," writer/director Marco Bellochio takes the events and drains them of much of their sociopolitical significance, choosing instead to focus on the human drama at the story's core. Bellochio looks at the ambivalent feelings and conflicted motives underlying the kidnappers' actions, particularly in the case of an attractive young woman named Chiara (confidently played by Maya Sansa), who comes to question her commitment to "the cause" as the reality of what they are planning to do begins to sink in. It is largely through her eyes that we come to view the events and to see Moro less as an impersonal force to be manipulated for political purposes and more as a simple human being with all the fears, insecurities and desperate desire for life common to us all. Indeed, the political aspects stay largely in the background, relegated mainly to clips of stock footage showing us the principal players of the time dealing with the crisis.With its dreamy visions, fantasy sequences, and tendency towards wild speculation, the film may frustrate those who would have preferred a more historically accurate, documentary approach to the topic. But Bellochio, as an artist, is less concerned with the "facts" of the case than with exploring the dilemma of the revolutionary's mindset. And to that end, he has done an exemplary job in "Good Morning, Night."

This is by no means an action movie. It's a chamber play telling what happens with kidnappers and victims, having an indeed strange relation.Aldo Moro has different effects on the terrorists and especially on the girl, the one who seems to have a normal life outside the terrorist cell, where she also encounters a normal man, which gives some tension.A strong part is played by the Pink Floyd music of the time "Shine on you crazy Diamond" and also by the authentic news rapports considering the crime and the funeral in the end. A capable although not strong movie.

The Italian national trauma of the kidnapping of Aldo Moro is a very interesting subject. A deed like that raises many questions. Why is anybody so obsessed by his ideals to kidnap the Italian president and subsequently murder him? How mentally ill is such a person? What emotions do you have when you are locked up for months in a row knowing that you'll probably gonna die? Hardly any of these questions is answered in the film. All you see is two hours of people walking through the appartment. The political discussions with Moro could give some insight in the motivations of the kidnappers but are superficial. It is as if only the uninteresting aspects of this kidnapping where filmed. There are also moving moments though: the letters of Moro to his family are heartbreaking.