DVD: Il Divo

Il Divo examines the life of seven-time Italian Prime minister and senator for life (since 1991) Giulio Andreotti. The most obvious thought after seeing Il Divo would be to wonder how a foreign film with so much quality and substance went undistributed (outside of L.A. and New York). Fortunately for film fans Il Divo hits the street on DVD today.
Andreotti is seen as a patient man, a calm man albeit one whose thoughts are indicated by his hand gestures. For instance if he's bored he fiddles with his ring, likewise he holds his hands together in some manner or another throughout most of the movie. The world around him flourishes with corruption.
Andreotti headed the Italian conservative Christian Democratic party during the 70s and up until the early 90s. Il Divo views Andreotti's administration as a sort of supergroup of advisors and politicians, even going to slow motion to introduce the cabinet in a cool mode or using wide angle lenses to express the distance between the elite and the people. Director Paolo Sorrentino observes events from assassinations to car wrecks to political machinations as a kind of grand opera. Certainly Andreotti's character is only on trial in the movie, not in Sorrentino's subtext. Intrigues include murder, bribery, and conspiracies involving the Vatican and the Mafia.
Il Divo is fascinating viewing regardless of whether you have a firm grasp recent Italian history. Another film critical of current Italian leader Silvio Berlusconi, Nanni Moretti's The Caiman, will also be of interest to fans of Il Divo.