Silvio Berlusconi died this week at the age of 86, a figure of enormous impact both in the entertainment industry and in politicsoften using one to influence the other. In Italian cinema we can find everything from hagiographies to his productions that have been present at awards such as the Oscars, but both feel insufficient to represent their impact.
The disruption that Berlusconi brought about in Italian society and politics is difficult to quantify due to its immensity, generating a climate of excess only surpassed by British politics. One of the films that has come closest to capturing that Italy of Il Cavaliere it has it in the background, but its shadow continues through the autobiographical ‘April‘ by Nanni Moretti.
Berlusconi and paternity
The extroverted Italian filmmaker continues the mockumentary exercise carried out in ‘Dear Diary‘, employing highly charged satire on himself to reflect his bewilderment during Berlusconi’s first term in office. An anxious but funny movie that can be recovered to watch streaming through Filmin.
In the film, Moretti stands in front of the camera as well as behind it to recount in first person the two years lived after the 1994 elections, where the right wing prevailed through Forza Italia. After this first victory for Silvio, the director cancels the making of a musical starring a Trotskyist baker to make the most important project of his life, a political documentary. Without realizing it, the most important project of his life will not be that movie, but the imminent birth of his child.
It could fall into the category of autofiction at ‘Eight and a half’, but its approach and its tone is closer to the cinema of Woody Allen, if that is the case. further breaking the barrier between character and author. ‘April’ offers a fascinating journey through that Italy managed by such a controversial and frustrating figure, while the left is shown to be inoperative in gatherings and public statements. Yes, ironically it is more relevant and less local than it may seem.
‘April’: hilarious nervousness
Moretti’s pitch sways continuously between sarcasm and tenderness, thus reflecting his own emotional process in the face of the misunderstanding of what is happening around him. The short film (78 minutes of footage) cleverly explores his frustration with the political landscape, which influences his inability to move projects forward and distracts him from the arrival of his eldest son.
When he arrives, the filmmaker’s perception is turned upside down, and the film begins to transmit clarity and decision, establishing the ideas that he hammered out with a hilarious nervousness. It falls into the sensitive, but without reaching the simplicity that the cinema of Roberto Benigni (another Italian very compared to Woody Allen) could have. ‘April’ is much more political and scathing, without falling into pessimism but never dodging what is happening. That balance of her phobias and her hope is what makes her a great movievery suitable for these days.
In Espinof | It lasts only 5 hours and is one of the best recent Italian series: a powerful and complex political drama from one of the most interesting directors at the Cannes Film Festival.