User Reviews

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.

I didn't remember I had watched it a long long time ago until into the last part of the movie. Not so bad but, as it happens with many Italian movies where the voices of Italian actors are dubbed, the accent and intonation feels forced and sometimes weird. But it's not a huge problem.

I remember Aldo Moro's kidnapping very well. It was a very troubled time also in Argentina with the damn terrorists, so I was very aware of the implications. I also know quite a bit of the loggia P2 ( P-due) and the Ambrosiano Bank case because it had relation with some corrupt politicians in Argentina. But for someone who didn't live at the time or didn't care about that, I think he would have had a difficult time figuring out who Aldo Moro was and what they were talking about saying P2 and in English. At least in Argentina, it was always called in Italian P-due, the loggia massonica P2.

Another thing. Even when I still didn't remember I had watched it before, it was too obvious Giancarlo Giannini character had something to do with the case. Maybe it was just me, but it looked crystal clear.

But all the same, it was quite a nice movie.

That's just a film and it is not serious. It is ranting and raving about the cold war and its consequences. It is an attempt to clean up the plate of the Red Brigades in Italy by making them CIA agents. It is an attempt to clean up their crimes by making these a result of Yalta and indispensable actions to prevent the arrival of the Communists in the Italian government. It is well done but it is gross manure. The assassination of Aldo Moro was the blocking element on the road to power for the Italian Communists, but that had nothing to do with the CIA and Yalta. It was essentially a successful attempt at preventing Communists from having any influence in the political world of Italy which would have isolated and even neutralized the Red Brigades and other Trotskyite groups. The presence of Communists in the French government in the 80s was of no importance because they were second to the Socialists and the Socialists had been vastly infiltrated by Trotskyites and the Socialists were going to eat up the Communists like so many snails cooked in some juicy red tomato sauce. Quite different was Italy since the Communists were going to be in the government with the Christian Democrats and as the main party in Italy, not a second declining force. The Trotskyites would have been completely neutralized and annihilated. Later on they will even practically cooperate with the extreme fascist right to eliminate the general secretary of the Communist party to get rid of the danger. For the Trotskyites, and for the Anarchists as well, and even for the extreme fascists, the world has to remain brutal, capitalistically egoistic so that these extreme forces can go on criticizing this world and appearing as justified in their criticism. Why do you think Mitterrand protected them and accepted them in France in order for them to escape Italian justice? Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne, University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines, CEGID

The plot would have required high and other study on the subject.

A good thriller whit bad output.

A good Donald Sutherland and ambitious story the only positive notes. The role of Giannini absolutely evanescent, that penalizes only him as a great actor.

Important inaccuracies in history (one above all, the name of Pecorelli's Magazine: Political Observer, not observatory). Not protagonists roles enough useless for the daughter of the judge and the husband of the young judge (Stefania Rocca).

Too bad, it could have been so much better.

All in all, considering that the film is 2003 some truth about the Moro case, but very much left only to assumptions. When instead of real material on the subject, there is a lot.

High expectations, disappointing film.

This film makes you wonder. The line between life and death is present throughout the film. Carelessness judge is not used to struggle - but his life becomes fatal. This film is about how much of the old is to die for a new beginning. People keep guns concealing the truth. People searching for the truth fall first. This film reviews the history as a priceless example. Murder is the easiest way. Death continues to bear fruit, and one proof means little for the truth. And the end of story will open your eyes. It's cinema style to reset a viewer for concentrating on the end. Every level of participating - is just a searching for a truth.