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Wonderful character development!

Memorable, crazy movie

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

How sad is this?

On 16 March 1978, the Italian politician of the Christian Democracy and former Prime Minister Aldo Moro is kidnapped by the Red Brigades with the purpose of exchanging him for the release of several terrorists from prison. The Red Brigade does not succeed in the intent and after fifty- four days in captivity, they kill Aldo Moro with eleven shots in the chest."Buongiorno, Notte" is a shallow and non-sense dramatization of the last days of Aldo Moro in confinement through the eyes of a twenty-three year-old sensitive terrorist and librarian. The movie technically is good, with great performances, nice cinematography and costumes. But I do not see any worth in a fictional dramatization of a true well-known story. The political events behind the case are not focused but only a corny attitude of a hypothetical terrorist that is against the wall with the decision of her comrades of executing the politician. The wonderful songs of Pink Floyd ("Shine on you Crazy Diamond", "The Great Gig in the Sky") do not fit well to the theme. The dream sequences of the lead character are the best moments of this forgettable and overrated movie. My vote is five.Title (Brazil): "Bom Dia, Noite" ("Good Morning, Night")

Marco Bellochio's Good Morning, Night is the story of four Red Brigadiers who kidnap and murder Aldo Moro, Italian Prime Minister and a leader in the Christian Democratic Party. Bellochio's main focus in the movie is the portrayal of lack of reality displayed by the Red Brigade members. This disillusionment is drawn out through the character Chiara, comparisons between the old and new, and the interviews with Aldo Moro while in captivity. The character, Chiara, is a most interesting one. She seems to be the only one of the Brigadiers who has any sense of reality or common sense. A librarian by trade and familial at home, Chiara is constantly confused towards the times and her involvement with the Red Brigade. This confusion is clearly depicted in her conversation with Enzo in the library as he correctly describes her in his screenplay. During this conversation, Enzo tells her that murder scares him yet if murder did not happen, the kidnapping would be meaningless but Chiara's seems to not comprehend this right away. They also engage in talk about reality vs imagination. She claims that imagination (concerning the screenplay) does nothing but the reality is that the screenplay is the truth. Confusion further sets in her mind. She even questions the murder with her comrades. Although she never changes in the movie, Bellochio uses Chiara to depict the confusion between reality and fantasy possessed by most Red Brigade members. Bellochio also uses comparison between the old and new to depict the lack of reality of the Brigadiers. The lunch and song scene with Chiara's family and the conversation amongst the youth is the ultimate exploration of this topic. Fischia il Vento, the song sung by the older family members is an adaptation of a Russian WWII folk song called Katyusha. The song was sung by many partisan groups in the Italian resistance movement who fought during WWII against the fascist governments in Italy and Germany who committed atrocious war crimes. Many of the older people sitting around the table were members of the WWII movement. Bellochio contrasts this older resistance, with moral and sensible goals, with the Brigadiers goals. From the conversation just before the song and during the whole movie, Bellochio implies that the Brigadiers just did not use their complete potential towards a moral cause. Finally, conversations between Aldo Moro and the Brigadiers are great executions of the theme, reality vs fantasy. Moro is the level headed mediator who is more in touch with reality than just about every character in the story. And his detainees are completely in touch with fictitious notions. In Moro's final pleas, he tells the Brigadiers that he will only become a martyr and that his death will not be beneficial to their cause. Moro even tries to explain to them that they both are working towards the same goals: peace and better lifestyle for the working class. The Red Brigadiers disillusionment is further amplified as the trial is claimed to be between the Christian Democratic Party and the Proletariats, whom the Brigadiers claim to represent. None of Moro's reasonable arguments work with the Brigadiers as he is tried and executed. Concluding, disillusionment is Bellochio's greatest implication towards this vicious act of brutality. He concerns himself with showing the viewers through Chiara, an older sense of morality and conversations, that the Red Brigade were just youth who did not understand that they live in such a strange world of hypocrisy.

This movie describes the 55 days of captivity of On. Aldo Moro, kidnapped by the Red Brigades in 1978. In rapid strokes, the Red Brigades are presented as a group bent on implementing a Marxist-Leninist revolution in Italy through the destabilization of the Republican democratic state in order to implement a Soviet style dictatorship. The Red Brigades were inspired by the Russian revolution and by the actions of Lenin and his Bolshevik followers. The maxim at the time was "Portare l'attacco al cuore dello stato", i.e. "Bring the attack to the heart of the state" and the Red Brigades extended their campaign of numerous targeted assassinations to those public figures that were trying to dilute the original message of the Marxist-Leninist revolution. On. Aldo Moro, President of the Christian Democratic Party, with his decade of attempts to mediate "Il Compromesso Storico" (The Historic Compromise), i.e., the entrance in the Government of politicians of the Italian Communist Party (Partito Comunista Italiano, PCI), was targeted, kidnapped and assassinated because he was close to succeed in his task. In the Red Brigade's view, the entrance of the PCI in the Government would have betrayed the Leninist dogma of proletarian revolution, and of the planned physical elimination of the middle class (Classe Borghese). Mr. Bellocchio does not delve too deeply into this essential motivations of the Red Brigades, and while he does not embellish their crime, he presents a superficial view of the political debate. I was in Italy when On. Moro was kidnapped and assassinated, and I remember very well those days. The Italian Communist Party (PCI) was very worried that the equation Communism-by-the-book = Red Brigades would cause a loss of votes for the party (30-35% of the electorate voted PCI) and the Italian Right (non-fascist) was too sleepy or ignorant to use the equation in the political debate, i.e. to suggest that communism was a bloody ideology that had at its core the destruction in a blood-bath of all the class enemies. Mr. Bellocchio does not present this political debate and prefers to continue the traditional and superficial approach: the Red Brigades were somewhat romantic criminal assassins. The film would have greatly improved had the most recent development on the significance of Communist Terrorism (especially the magisterial work of Richard Drake on the subject) in the 1960's and 1970's Italy been presented. Because it failed to refresh the trite and regimented view that the Red Brigades were a sort of political criminal folly, Mr. Bellocchio should be commended only because he is the only major movie director daring to dedicate a movie to the still not closed chapter of Marxist-Leninist terrorism in Italy. The movie was produced by the Italian State Television (RAI), and many of the RAI intellectuals are lefties: therefore it is not surprising that the fundamental violence of communism in all its forms had not been presented by the movie. In summary: commendable for reconstructing a painful chapter in the history of the Italian Democracy and for presenting a credible On.Aldo Moro, but missing the most updated debate on the subject and not adding much to the popular mythology.

This is a very good docu-drama about a kidnapping and assassination of a former Prime Minister Aldo Moro of Italy in 1978 by the Red Brigades. Pretty much the whole movie takes place in the hideout where they are keeping the politician, trying to negotiate a change in government and even getting the Pope involved. One of the most amazing things about the movie to me, outside of excellent story telling, is the use of Pink Floyd music. There's not too many movies that get the right to use PF music, but this movie does with "Shine on you crazy Diamond" and "The Great Gig in the Sky". Extremely powerful music to establish tone and mood in the movie, and very effective. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, and the DVD documentary extra is very good too. It gives a great background to the true story, and a good profile of the filmmaker.