Il Divo (2009)

Takes itself way too seriously

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

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

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Giulio Andreotti is the seven times Prime Minister of Italy leading the ruling Christian Democracy Party. In 1978, The Red Brigades kidnaps his rival former Prime Minister Aldo Moro. Andreotti refuses to negotiate and Moro is killed. Over the next 15 years, various people are mysteriously killed. In 1991, he's named Senator for Life. In 1992, he resigns as Prime Minister. His bid for the Presidency fails and he goes on trial for corruption with the Mafia.I have one problem with this movie and it's a big one. I feel like I did a PhD on Italian politics watching this movie. The first half is nearly impossible to follow for someone like me who knows nothing about Italy during this time. It's a lot of style but I couldn't understand the substance. There are a lot of deaths but I don't know the significance of some of them. The second half is more compelling with the criminal trial. It becomes a character study and Andreotti is an intriguing character. I'm sure this movie is much more compelling for people with a background in Italian politics during this time. A lot of this is going over my head.

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.

Il Divo charts the vast and eventful reign that former Italian prime- minister Giulio Andreotti had over Italy. He served as prime minister a number of times between 1976 and 1992, and also held positions of Defence Minister and Foreign Minister. During this time he was widely believed to have strong links to the Mafia, and was placed on trial in the late 1990's for his involvement in the murder of a journalist who was suggested to have held documents that strongly implicated Andreotti in criminal activities. The film jumps back and forth in time, and shows Andreotti's enigmatic presence of almost divine levels, and his guilt over his refusal to negotiate in the kidnapping and eventual murder of fellow Christian Democrat Aldo Moro.This is no ordinary biography. It is an unconventional, highly stylised comedy-drama that is infuriating, exciting, informative and exhausting. Director Paolo Sorrentino throws so many facts, figures and names at you in rapid fashion that it all becomes a blur, it is near impossible to keep up, especially if your knowledge of Italian politics around this time is slim (which was the case for me). But it eventually becomes clear that all this information is irrelevant. It's simply a way to show just how involved Andreotti was virtually everything that happened. He was so influential, so powerful that nothing escaped him. And nothing could touch him.Toni Servillo's simply brilliant performance conveys everything you need to know about Andreotti. He is not physically intimidating, but instead he is hunched, softly-spoken and extremely strange-looking. But Andreotti does not need to move for anyone. His extreme intelligence and near-supernatural ability to get out of situations by doing next to nothing only increases his divine status. We see the best and worst of Andreotti, but Sorrentino is not trying to force an opinion of him out of us, but instead he has directed an outrageous film about an outrageous man. 'Il Divo', literally translated, means 'the star', but suggests 'the divine one', and was the nickname given to Julius Caesar.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

Pompous, pretentious, portentous, and unwatchable. The director assumes a great familiarity with Italy's fractious post-war politics but that's understandable: he's made his film for a domestic audience. But the inability to ever truly mount and sustain a narrative is unforgivable for any and all audiences. Enamored of pretty cinematography (arguably ill-suited to the subject matter at hand) and fashionably business-suited (if generally unattractive) men marching to and fro in ornate governmental offices, the director tries for a Guy Ritchie flavor with freeze frames and silly captions. But Ritchie (like him or not) at least believes in action and story; this director makes even the famously discursive Fellini look like a slave to plot.Woe to those who stayed with the movie longer than a polite half-hour to see if any modicum of story-telling sense would come to imbue it. A real embarrassment, especially in light of the Euro-praise and the ridiculous IMDb rating.You've been warned.