I Love Italian Everything

If you like political dramas Italy has some that are outstanding, and none better than those about the Red Brigades, Brigate Rosse,an Italian Marxist- Leninist terrorist group formed in 1970 that for a dozen or so years brought fear and anarchy to Italy. It’s been said that the Brigate Rosse, BR, are responsible for 14,000 acts of violence in the 70s and that 75 people were murdered by them, mostly for political reasons.


The Red Brigades were probably most famous for the kidnapping and murder of Aldo Moro, president of the country’s largest political party, Democrazia Cristiana in 1978 – they ambushed him in the street, killed 5 of his bodyguards, held him for 54 days, and then executed him when the government refused to negotiate. We’ve already talked about a movie that touched on this – Il Divo– the story of Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti, who has been accused of refusing to negotiate because he also wanted Moro dead. Il DIvo is excellent – it’s stylish, slick, and gripping as any Hollywood movie and it stars Toni Servillo who is a truly brilliant actor you may also have seen in Gomorrah.

Scene from Buongiorno, Notte

Tomorrow I’ll be writing about another Red Brigade essential – Buongiorno, Notte ( Good Morning, Night) – starring – hurray! – my favorite, Luigi Lo Cascio along with Maya Sansa, ( The Best of Youth), Paolo Briguglia, ( The Sicilian Girl, Baarìa ), and Pier Giorgio Bellocchio, son of director Marco Bellocchio. Good Morning, Night is the powerful dramatization of Aldo Moro’s kidnapping.