Review #253: 'Il Divo' (2008)

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 with 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.


Directed by: Paolo Sorrentino
Starring: Toni Servillo, Anna Bonaiuto, Giulio Bosetti
Country: Italy/France

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie