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The Age of Commercialism

Expected more

A Masterpiece!

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Italian film industry "blessed" us with countless films of an impossibly crude and vulgar nature disguised as "social satire." Fortunately, now and then it also produced films like "In Nome Del Popolo Italiano." The film is the usual social satire that depicts rich people as the eternally "evil" ones, out to oppress the people, and to exempt - or try to exempt - themselves from the law. However, what makes INDPI so refreshing, and different from other films in the genre is that it also shows us that the, uh, proletariat can be just as bad, especially when pushed by the bigotry of a rigid ideology. I totally agree with Risi's comment that, if forced to choose, he'd rather be the openly corrupt guy than the hypocritically ambiguous one.Gassman and Tognazzi are brilliant, as usual. Or at least, as usual when given the chance to stray from the sex-farce-cum-social-indictment silliness the Italian film industry was so painfully famous in the 60s and 70s.This is a good film. Give it a chance.

Alas, to express how much I disagree with the comment let by Artemis-9 would require to completely spoil the superb plot crafted by Age/Scarpelli. And well, I can't do this to my favorite screenwriters of all times ! ("Big Deal on Madonna Street", "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly", "We All Loved Each Other So Much" and many others). But let's at least say that the last half-hour of this Dino Risi popular comedy, culminating in an hilarious transformist tour de force by comic genius Vittorio Gassman, is one of the most breath-taking finale I have seen at the movies. With one more narrative twist à l'italienne, suddenly all the pieces of the puzzle fall into place, the satirical layer and the detective-story layer of the plot suddenly merge and then you realize... well, I can't tell you what you realize. In an interview about this movie - an interview in French with film critic Jean Gili I have here at hand; no surprise, there are no Dino Risi interviews in English - director Dino Risi says : « All in all, if I were forced to choose, I may prefer an openly corrupt businessman (Gassman]) to an hypocritically ambiguous judge (Tognazzi). » Move over, Artemis9 ! In nome del popolo italiano, if need be to say, is one of the peaks of "commedia all italiana" (1958-1978) - the most corrosive, devastating and entertaining satirical spree in movie history ! Vitriol pouring all over Italy - and the world. Yet because these movies are based upon tragicomic (or "comedy/drama") narrative canvas, they are also surprisingly taking, even moving, which is pretty rare when it comes to satire - a genre reputed, often with good reason, for speaking more to the head than the heart.But not commedia all'italiana. Joke, joke, another joke... surprise! a tragic punch. Another joke. Pow! Another tragic punch. Except you never know when it's gotta hit you in the face. Prepare yourself, be gentle to yourself and watch this old movie from Cinecittà's Golden Age, for it is really a gem. We in North America never did anything like this.And needless to say : Vittorio Gassman and Ugo Tognazzi are eternal.

Gassman & Tognazzi...need anything else ?it's a movie coming from the "good old times" when there had no need of special effects,stunts or whatever, a plot,some professionals and a stage,action !this good work has recently been published on DVD.unluckily the overall quality of the encoding is not very high anyway it's such better than most VHS,so...it's a masterpiece,no doubt.no matter where u live,no matter what language u speak...when the work is well done u will even understand an Icelandic movie subtitled in Thai !;-)Matt

Dino Risi said, when his film was first shown (1971): «This is more or less the picture of Italy these days.»When I saw this film (1975), I wondered why it had taken four years for such a well done film (action, dialogue, script, realistic acting, thrilling sequences) to be shown in France, and other Western European countries. Weren't all democracies, full of law and order, wishing to back magistrates like the one portrayed in the movie? He was not particularly bright, or courageous, or whatever is needed to be a symbol. No, he was a simple man, invested of some authority, wishing to do the job for what he was paid for: smelling a dead rat when there was one, hidden under a luxurious carpet.Remembering this film now (2003), when the European politics, and Italian relations between government and magistrates is what it is, makes me wonder why no one is releasing this master piece in DVD and VHS?!... It should be mandatory viewing in all Law Schools.