Il Divo

Usually I'll watch the supplemental features on a DVD, but Il Divo leaves such a strong impression that there's no sense piercing the mystery by listening to the director or a "making of" featurette. This Italian film about the politician Giulio Andreotti is visually flamboyant, reminiscent of The Conformist, without ever falling into pat patterns. For instance, there is a sequence set to loud music that intercuts Andreotti at the race track with an assassination of a political opponent, but there is also a long, uncut scene in which a stationary camera focuses on a journalist's face as he delivers a scathing indictment of the prime minister. Andreotti appears in the film as a stiff, heavy-lidded, implacable oddball. He takes walks at 5 a.m. and tears a page from a paperback thriller because he doesn't want to know who the criminal is. He appears to feel emotion only on the subject of Aldo Moro, whom he let be killed. When it comes time to run for president, Andreotti says, "I know that I am of average height, but I don't see any giants around." The film is full of these epigrammic moments, and the director effectively uses the chilly music of Sibelius to deepen his portrait of this cold soul. What matters to Andreotti? The final word in the film probably says it: niente.