Brilliant and touching

Boring

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Il Divo is a mesmerizing Italian biographical drama film about former Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreottia,a seven-time prime minister of Italy notorious for his alleged ties to the Mafia.The story spans the period from Andreotti's seventh election in 1992, to his failed bid for the presidency of the Italian Republic, to the Tangentopoli bribe scandal, until his trial in 1995.It stars Toni Servillo as Andreotti, together with Anna Bonaiuto,Piera Degli Esposti,Paolo Graziosi,Giulio Bosetti,Flavio Bucci,Carlo Buccirosso and Cristina Serafini.Also,it was written and directed Paolo Sorrentino.After watching this film,I was astonished on Sorrentino's ability to combine probably even surpass The Godfather saga as it a smart political film that features a fascinating villainous politician.This is a spectacular story about corruption in high places and absorption of great knowledge in Italian politics.While the web of corruption in this political thriller can be hard for a non-Italian to follow, the visuals and the intrigue are compelling and thrilling in equal measure as director Sorrentino avoids the dreary conventions of the biopic in favor of a cheeky mix of music montages, dramatic re-enactments and great musical score that gives the movie and the viewer energy and vitality.

We had missed Paolo Sorrentino's film when it was shown in its original commercial run. Having seen it recently, when it was shown on a cable channel, we realize what a loss it would have been, had we not seen it. The director and the star of the film, Toni Servillo, show us the life of an enigmatic man that has been at the center of controversy in his native Italy for many years.This is a politically charged film that is courageous enough to expose the corruption behind politics. Giulio Andreotti, is a man that on one hand, is deeply religious, while on the other hand, he has been involved with the Italian mafia, getting away with his involvement because the system that tried to bring him to justice was equally corrupt.The performance of Mr. Servillo is one of the best things in the Italian cinema in recent memory. His Andreotti is a man with high standing in the Italian Social Democrat party with enough ties to the catholic church and other factions in his country. A figure in Italian parliament, he has been able to survive all the political upheavals in his country for most of his life.Mr. Sorrentino's account on this fictional work, probably is closer to the truth behind this man that shows little emotion in his dealings with the events that surrounded his days as a central political figure. The splendid collaboration between Mr. Sorrentino and Mr. Servillo results in an intelligent film that goes behind the scenes of a system that baffles the mind.

I'll fully take the word of reviewer "Mario Pio" (older author of "The Story of Language" a classic book in it's field), in particular because I was very impressed by his IMDb review as "elvinjones" of Roman Polandki's Repulsion. Reviewer "Donna Augustini" saw right away the bold reference to the dramatic film of Greek politics, Z (He is alive). Other Italians saw how Sorrentini made a script and directed it as a way to say that ALL THOSE PARLIAMENTS Italy had in the 20thCentury were a script and direction by Mussolini-Andreotti-Burlesconi. Unified of Italy in 1860 Camillo Cavour also thought Nicolo Machiavelli was the greatest philosopher, later for his own purposes endorsing instead John Stuart Mill!Paolo Sorrentini was able to convey such a sweep of impressions in his own style by using printed words at the very beginning and at the end, that way making the back-and-forth of the narrative coherent. The pictures of the characters could be associated instantly with their fates.

I'm sure if I were raised in Italy and paid attention to Italian politics day in and day out all of what transpires in Il Divo would be no less than engrossing. The story of Androetti, the head of a government that went for seven administrations and then went on to run for President has some really fascinating things to it. One of those is seeing just how the parliament works in those scenes midway through the picture and how the country actually chooses its president, which is so far removed from the US democratic process it's hard to fathom. And I also admired how the actor playing Androetti so got into this kind of quietly conniving politician, a man who believed that politics was everything and yet would never get passionate enough to raise his voice above a whisper. Somewhere inside of him a Dick Cheney is rumbling, perhaps.But the problem in watching the film if you don't pay attention to the Italian politics of the period, or just in general, is that the filmmakers lose you fairly quickly. I usually find myself a viewer who doesn't like to be spoon-fed information very simply, but this is on the opposite end of the cannon where only a few real details are clear enough and then the rest comes whizzing by at a quick clip (and quick indeed as the camera style is akin to the operatic nature of Scorsese, only not as talented or focused). Names of characters keep coming up as title cards, and except for a couple of names like "The Lemon" (Androetti's right-hand man), none of them really stick out, and the incidents keep piling up without any real connection. At some point the basic story does reveal itself and holds some interest, but there's a disconnect between many scenes too, and a sense of cross-cutting done a few times (i.e. the horse race scene crossed with a shooting) comes off as unimaginative.It's not a waste of time though if you're totally ignorant about Italy's political structure and brash sense of the power dynamic. But it's not one that I particularly enjoyed, either, and its lack of a connection with the mounting details made it harder to appreciate.