Funny when it has to be; bitter too. Even strangely touching (a trait not often seen in Moretti's work)...'Il Caimano' is to date maybe Nanni M's best film.
Who will take on a slippery, foxy and downright scary adversary of free-thinkers (and of The People!), a true 'wolf in sheep's clothing' like Silvio Berlusconi???
SUPERNANNI will!
How??
A Comedy? Too superficial.
A Tragedy? Too dense and unsavoury.
A Documentary? Watch out for reprisals legally!!!
So Moretti comes up with the brilliant ruse of a film within a film.... peppered with a bit of all three of the above.
And the Producer makes 'b' movies! ( A sly comment on Nanni M's behalf about the new, tacky, panorama that years of Berlusconi rule has inflicted on Italy).
So...is this a Political film?
It is much more. It's a film about courageous 'little' people too. Silvio Orlando's warm-hearted, stubborn, childlike Producer, Jasmine Trinka's fresh, idealist, dignified young writer-director; BOTH are parents....with complicated family situations to solve despite the all-absorbing tasks of Pre-Production of their film project.
If Truffaut gave us 'Day For Night', then Moretti gives us this gem, and throws in a sharp socio-political análisis of the Evils of Neo-Liberal politics. A place where....just like the Caiman (Crocodile) of the title, we are invited to meet the Devil himself. A beast with a 'gift for the gab', and Crocodile tears, albeit smiling all along. Silvio Berlusconi... played by three very different actors.
Chilling.
Brilliant.
Who will take on a slippery, foxy and downright scary adversary of free-thinkers (and of The People!), a true 'wolf in sheep's clothing' like Silvio Berlusconi???
SUPERNANNI will!
How??
A Comedy? Too superficial.
A Tragedy? Too dense and unsavoury.
A Documentary? Watch out for reprisals legally!!!
So Moretti comes up with the brilliant ruse of a film within a film.... peppered with a bit of all three of the above.
And the Producer makes 'b' movies! ( A sly comment on Nanni M's behalf about the new, tacky, panorama that years of Berlusconi rule has inflicted on Italy).
So...is this a Political film?
It is much more. It's a film about courageous 'little' people too. Silvio Orlando's warm-hearted, stubborn, childlike Producer, Jasmine Trinka's fresh, idealist, dignified young writer-director; BOTH are parents....with complicated family situations to solve despite the all-absorbing tasks of Pre-Production of their film project.
If Truffaut gave us 'Day For Night', then Moretti gives us this gem, and throws in a sharp socio-political análisis of the Evils of Neo-Liberal politics. A place where....just like the Caiman (Crocodile) of the title, we are invited to meet the Devil himself. A beast with a 'gift for the gab', and Crocodile tears, albeit smiling all along. Silvio Berlusconi... played by three very different actors.
Chilling.
Brilliant.