For the non-fiction fans out there…
Cesare Deve Morire (Caesar Must Die)
Real prisoners serving life sentences in a Roman prison star in this film, playing themselves putting on the Shakespeare play and using its message to reflect on their own lives.
Watch it on Amazon, Hulu, NETFLIX and iTunes.
Vallanzasca, Gli Angeli Del Male (Angels of Evil)
Vallenzasca is an actual folk hero who is currently serving four consecutive life sentences with an additional 290 years in a Milanese prison but for a decade wreaking havoc with Italy, outsmarting the police and the prison system, robbing banks, kidnapping, murdering, inciting riots in prison and periodically breaking out of it. The movie pretty accurately follows the real criminal’s real life, and portrays Vallanzasca’s (somewhat askew) code of honor and old-fashioned values and his success with the ladies, earning him the nickname “il bel René”. He believed that he wasn’t such a bad guy, and used the media to help him get public support.
Vincere (Winning)
Vincere is the true story of Benito Mussolini and his secret (insane?) wife, Ida Dasler and her real-life fight to be recognized. Filippo Timi and Giovanna Mezzogiorno are spectacular, and Marco Bellocchio’s direction a work of art.
Watch it on YouTube and iTunes
La Bella Addormentata (Dormant Beauty)
Director Marco Bellocchio uses the real life Italian controversy that revolved around the last six days of the life of a girl who was comatose for 17 years when her family fought for the right to pull the plug and let her die.
Watch it on Amazon, NETFLIX , VUDU and iTunes
La Siciliana Ribelle (The Sicilian Girl)
La Siciliana Ribelle is based on the real life story of Rita Atria, whose courageous testimony has put dozens of mafiosi in jail and provoked violence that rocked (and continues to rock) all of Italy.
Watch it on Amazon, Vudu and iTunes
Mia Madre (My Mother)
Nanni Moretti dealt with the loss of his own mother in this film about a director with a dying mother.
Streaming TBA, Screening at this years ICFF Canada, Screening times and locations:
June 16 @ 7:00pm Cinema Cartier – Quebec City
June 19 @ 7:00pm Cinema Guzzo – Montreal
Io Non Ho Paura (I’m Not Afraid)
Ten year old Michele finds Fillipo in chains in a hole in the ground covered with a sheet of metal and you might think that his first instinct would be to tell the adults – to get help. But Michele knows that the adults, even his own parents, are not to be trusted. As he begins to understand more about what’s going on he’s compelled to help Filippo.
Based on many real-life accounts of kidnappings during the ’70s and ’80s in Italy, Gli Anni Di Piombo (Years of Lead).
Watch it on NETFLIX
Gomorra (Gomorrah)
Author Roberto Saviano spent years under government protection and still uses body guards after telling the truth about the mafia in Naples, the Camorra. This film directed by Matteo Garrone is based on his book.
Watch it on AMAZON , Hulu, iTunes and Netflix
Il Divo
It took five minutes of fact checking after watching Il Divo to find that this docudrama is as much “docu” as it is “drama”, and while it may seem like the movie is one big conspiracy theory, this amazing story of Italian politics is not a piece of fiction. This is Italy’s Watergate – with a lot more blood – and it makes for a shocking and compelling movie.
The film’s subject is 92-year-old Giulio Andreotti, the seven time Italian prime minister.
I Love Italian Everything 