Il lungo silenzio (1993) User Reviews

Von Trotta's take on the suffering the Mafia has long afflicted on women

[Guy33134 · 8/10 · 24 March 2006]

The German director Margarethe Von Trotta dedicates most of her work to the female universe, and explores women's emotional sides with intensity, but delicately. In this 1993 film, she deals with an Italian woman, Carla, who stands up to the Italian Mafia, more particularly the fear and corruption the Mafia unleashes at the Italian judicial system. Her husband is a high judge, and the couple live in constant fear for their lives.

After realizing that she cannot rely on the system she always believed in, she starts to investigate on her own, and defies the rules of a partial and corrupt system. With her example, she influences other women, victims like herself, to break the long silence (the film's title, in English) which covers up crimes, vendettas, and assassinations.

Carla Gravina's performance in the main role is just right. Von Strotta's direction is solid, and the film features an appropriate sound track by Ennio Morricone. A must-see for Von Trotta fans.

The long silence

[jotix100 · 8/10 · 5 November 2009]

When we first meet Marco Canova and his wife Carla, they are seen taking a stroll on a solitary beach. They are not alone, a team of security guards surround them for fear the couple might be killed. Marco is an Italian judge, one of the most dangerous jobs in the world, and he is in charge of an investigation of the mafia. Caution is of the essence. As a couple, Marco and Carla have no life to speak of. Their lives are dominated by the threat that at any given moment he will be murdered by the same element he is investigating.

Marco whose passion for justice is shared by another judge, Francesco Mancini, from the same office, must fight a no-win battle since the criminal element they want to prosecute prove to be an invincible foe. Carla, his wife, is a physician who finds herself in a terrible dilemma when Marco is killed. She wants to continue his work, but living in a country where the criminals have the upper hand is too much for her. When she goes public with the information she possesses, she enlists some friendly journalists to champion her cause. Ultimately, there is no hope for her and she must pay with her life because she has become too dangerous and has posed many unanswerable questions.

"The Long Silence" is a highly political film directed with conviction by German director Margarethe Von Trotta. She captures the state of turmoil in Italy where the criminals appear to get away with their murders and run free all over the country. The wonderful Carla Gravina does a marvelous job as Carla Aldrovandi, a woman that after receiving a shocking blow decides to bring her case to the public by going to the media and using it to expose whoever is behind the murders. Jacques Perrin is fine as Marco. The great Alida Valli is seen as Carla's mother in a subtle performance. Paolo Graziosi, Giuliano Montaldo and the rest of the supporting cast do justice to Ms. Von Trotta's direction.

This is an extremely dark film photographed by Marco Sperduti, who gets the mood of the story in his stark pictures. Ennio Morricone's musical score enhances the picture and gives it another layer of texture.