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Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Just what I expected

Highly Overrated But Still Good

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

Although Leonardo Sciascia may be a name that means nothing to most viewers, he was a brilliant Italian novelist of Sicilian origins who acted as his country's moral consciousness for several decades, writing novels and short-stories that analysed Italy's Mafia, the fascist years, and the recrudescence of totalitarianism during the chaotic 'years of lead' during the '60s and '70s. So popular and extraordinary were the novels of this first-rate storyteller, that many of them were turned into movies, and quite good in their right.Porte Aperte, based on one of his final novellas, concerns an elderly judge burdened with the responsibility of trying a multiple murderer. It's 1938, the Fascists are in power and Italy is re-enacting the death penalty again, in order to show the regime's strength and zero tolerance with crime. Judge Vito Di Francesco, although not an anti-fascist, isn't ready to simply sentence the defendant to death. Carefully and meticulously, he tries to understand the motives of the killer and to find a way of reducing the penalty to life imprisonment. Against him is the regime, which wants an example of swift justice, and the defendant himself, who demands to be executed.This movie, to me, has flaws and weaknesses that need to be quickly addressed. I found the killer's motives to demand the death penalty unclear: was he making a political point? Was he holding the regime's inhumanity to their eyes? I never understood what motivated him to act in such a suicidal manner. I also found it hard to sympathise with the plight of a man sentenced to death who himself had killed four people, including his wife, right after raping her. But perhaps a point of the movie was just that – that even the most vicious criminals have a right to live.Otherwise, the movie is quite solid and watchable. As a court room drama, the movie is slow-paced and introspective rather than frantic and bombastic. There are some fine verbal skirmishes between the judge and the witnesses and the defendant, but otherwise the movie focus a lot on his doubts and attempts at finding a loophole to save the man from execution.Gian Maria Volonté, the great Italian actor, plays the judge, and needless to say he brings the gravitas and serenity required for the character. Although Volonté is mainly known as El Indio from Sergio Leone's For a Few Dollars More, movies like Porte Aperte were really the sort of movies he preferred to star in. Volonté took seriously the '60s and '70s call to artists and intellectuals to join the revolutionary struggle. Whatever people may think of that nowadays, it led to Volonté starring in many fine movies with a political tinge: Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion, Todo Modo (another Sciascia adaptation, and hilariously and chillingly prophesying the murder of Italian prime-minister Aldo Moro), Ogro, The Working Class Goes To Heaven, etc. Watching Porte Aperte, however, I was taken aback at his age and frail look. Knowing him mainly from when he was a younger actor, filling his performances with rage and energy, it was a surprise to see him still deliver such a nuanced and powerful performance just a few years before his death.

Of course ignorance can be tolerated, but sometimes enough is enough. So I must reply to Mr. ccthemovieman-1, whose comment really goes over the top, as shown in the following quote : « In this movie, people who support the death penalty are called "fascists." Well, I used to be a flaming Left Winger and I remember calling anyone who disagreed with us a "fascist" back in the '60s, so I guess nothing has changed in that regard. » Well, it's because in this Italian film, the action is taking place in 1938 - that is, under the Fascist regime. So "the people who support death penalty" are not CALLED the fascists, they ARE the fascists, the real thing, the genuine article : fascismo (1922-1944). Nothing to do with the blatant ignorance of fascism displayed in the sixties by some American 'Liberal' activist, which by now has become the blatant ignorance of fascism displayed by some American 'Conservative' activist. As is well known, death penalty in Italy was abolished in 1890, reinstalled in 1922 by Mussolini's regime and abolished again in 1946.Now this Gianni Amelio courtroom drama (watch out the SPOILERS are coming) tells us the story of a 1938 magistrate (Gian Maria Volontè) who while not being exactly an antifascist, has always been at odds with the 1922 reenactment of death penalty and is now trying to find some loopholes or small print or mitigating circumstances of any kind to avoid delivering a death penalty verdict at the trial he's presiding - except that the accused is as uncooperative as possible since the guy WANTS to be executed.I shall also add that the Leonardo Sciascia book from which the movie is adapted is based on a true story. A writer with the mentality of an historian, Mr. Sciascia has been digging into old Sicilian trials that took place during the Ventennio (i.e. Fascist era) and found this story. So the movie is also a living page of history. The fascists in the story are called the fascists because they are the fascists.ccthemovieman-1 should stick to watching American movies, period. Anyway, aren't American movies the best ? Of course they are. So why not keep watching them and forget about the rest.

This Italian film actually makes a multiple-murderer into a sympathetic characters, almost a hero! Now that is just plain wrong. Yup, it's another super Liberal filmmaker and his main point is to give us another anti-capital punishment film. In this movie, people who support the death penalty are called "fascists." Well, I used to be a flaming Left Winger and I remember calling anyone who disagreed with us a "fascist" back in the '60s, so I guess nothing has changed in that regard.The main problem with this film isn't the obvious agenda - it's simply that it is boring. It starts off fine, then begins to lag very quickly and by halfway through, I think I began to start snoring. This movie is a "yawner." Pass it up.

This film had the tension and intellectual underpinning of a Doestoyevski novel. The cinematography was superb, but the main focus of interest was in the acting, particularly that of the judge and the accused.The tenderness and general humanity of the judge and above all his compassion, is an example for all of us, and it is what each human being should strive to be like. A beautiful, poignant and evocative movie, that makes one think and think hours afterwards about the nature of crime and punishment.