Romanzo di una strage, A Novel about a Massacre directed by Marco Tullio Giordana will be out later this year, this is a film I am very much looking forward to. Giordana is right up there with my favorite directors although he can on occasions lean towards the light and flimsy, he has a journalistic approach when directing, always makes me relax knowing that he will not drop me or the audience off half way. Giordana directed the docu-drama about the murder of Pier Paolo Pasolini, a film for which he received little credit in Italy and none on the International Market, the murder of Pasolini is really not that high up on the entertainment ladder for Italians, who generally fail to understand that the man was a genius both as a director and a poet, he directed films in the 60s and 70s that directors can only dream of directing in 2011, they would not get the funding and to be fair to Pasolini, there is not a director around today with real guts either most have succumb to Comedy of the most tedious kind. Giordana who directed Pasolini, un delitto italiano, Pasolini an Italian Crime Story in 1995 did an awesome job and excellent investigative journalism, I hope that will be paramount in his new film too .
Romanzo di una strage, A Novel about a Massacre has a cast of stars to die for Pierfrancesco Favino (Giuseppe Pinelli), Laura Chiatti (Gemma Calabresi) Luigi Lo Cascio (Giudice Paolillo) Valerio Mastandrea (Luigi Calabresi), Fabrizio Gifuni (Aldo Moro), Giorgio Colangeli (Federico Umberto D’amato), Michela Cescon (Licia Pinelli), Edoardo Natoli, Giovanni Capalbo, Alessio Vitale and Cladio Casadio, Giorgio Tirabassi (The Professor), a very exciting cast, I am missing Alessio Boni who often has a part in Giordana’s films, what went wrong ?.
Romanzo di una strage, A Novel about a Massacre is based on a book Strage written by Paolo Cucchiarelli about the Massacre at The Piazza Fontana, Milan on 12th of December 1969 at 16:37 a part of Italy’s historic past ” The Years of the Bombs” often perpetrated by the Red Brigade, 17 people was killed by the bomb and more than 80 people were injured. On the same day 3 more bombs went of in Rome and Milan, panic and nearly a 100 arrests were made, sometimes with the law in mind, sometimes not. Giuseppe Pinelli (Pierfrancesco Favino) was top of the list of suspects, when he during a routine interrogation felt ill, he flew unaided from a 4th floor window to his death, Luigi Calabresi (Valerio Mastandrea) was the interrogator who initially was charged with Pinelli’s murder until it was agreed that despite many discrepancies in the police stories, Pinelli had committed suicide. Calabresi was however held morally culpable for his lack of security during the interrogation, he denied all responsibility and was assassinated in 1972, 3 years later. From the little news I have been able to dick up on this film, it would appear that the facts have been meticulous reconstructed by Giordana and his team, the film has been dedicated to the victims and their families. I think you will agree, this sounds like a meaty film with few laughs, bring on late 2011, I’m ready !
A Number of excellent films have been directed by Giordana, here is your list, most are out on DVD do not miss The 100 Steps and if you are sick with summer-flu then I recommend The Best of Youth lasting 6 hours, while giving you an insight into Italy in the 60s and its youth.
To Love the Damned 1980
La caduta degli angeli ribelli, The Fall of the Rebel Angels 1981