This movie is a bit like "Aprile", except that it's not autobiographical. It is about a small-time producer, battling against personal and financial problems, who tries to make a movie about Mr.B (as I shall call Berlusconi). The idea has potential, and for about the first half, the movie is fairly entertaining, but it goes downhill from there. In the end, the personal problems of the producer degenerate into the pointless psychological sado-masochism that Woody Allen has recently inflicted upon us, and Mr.B becomes increasingly peripheral to the plot.
People hoping to learn about Italian politics from this movie will be disappointed, but it is still possible to gain a few insights. One insight I had, is that the most interesting thing about Italian political cinema is which movies are never made: Mr.B. has vastly greater resources, but he doesn't bother to make movies or documentaries critical of his opponents. He probably thinks that it would not be worth his time and money. Soon after the Left lost the 2001 elections, Moretti himself said that, with the leaders it's got, the Left is never going to win -- and he got a standing ovation at a rally (of the Left). He was too pessimistic, but at least he is a man who says out loud what he thinks.
For the record, I believe both sides of Italian politics to be about equally bad (at the time of writing), for very different reasons; but, contrary to Moretti, I don't think that Italian politics is worse that that of some other European countries. Anyway, I'll volunteer a piece of advice to the Italian Left: if you want to criticize Mr.B, make a documentary: some of the best scenes in this movie were archive footage of the real Mr.B.
By comparison to that footage, the final scene looks like a lame coda: whatever its artistic merits, this scene did not grip my attention because there is no build-up to it. Also, I believe that the end of this scene grossly overstates the effect of Mr.B's propaganda on the Italian public.
In conclusion: coming from the director of "Caro Diario", this movie is a disappointment; but it might still be worth seeing, at least the first half.
People hoping to learn about Italian politics from this movie will be disappointed, but it is still possible to gain a few insights. One insight I had, is that the most interesting thing about Italian political cinema is which movies are never made: Mr.B. has vastly greater resources, but he doesn't bother to make movies or documentaries critical of his opponents. He probably thinks that it would not be worth his time and money. Soon after the Left lost the 2001 elections, Moretti himself said that, with the leaders it's got, the Left is never going to win -- and he got a standing ovation at a rally (of the Left). He was too pessimistic, but at least he is a man who says out loud what he thinks.
For the record, I believe both sides of Italian politics to be about equally bad (at the time of writing), for very different reasons; but, contrary to Moretti, I don't think that Italian politics is worse that that of some other European countries. Anyway, I'll volunteer a piece of advice to the Italian Left: if you want to criticize Mr.B, make a documentary: some of the best scenes in this movie were archive footage of the real Mr.B.
By comparison to that footage, the final scene looks like a lame coda: whatever its artistic merits, this scene did not grip my attention because there is no build-up to it. Also, I believe that the end of this scene grossly overstates the effect of Mr.B's propaganda on the Italian public.
In conclusion: coming from the director of "Caro Diario", this movie is a disappointment; but it might still be worth seeing, at least the first half.