Review of "Il Divo"
Il Divo means “star" or “celebrity” in Italian. There is nothing, ostensibly, charismatic about former Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti, at least as he is played in the film of the same name. Yet other politicians flocked around him, women fawned over him, the establishment danced around him. Such is power. In the end he probably got away with massive fraud and corruption, facilitated by links to the Mafia… and perhaps worse.
The playing by Toni Servillo of Andreotti is completely hypnotic. The man comes across as an ultra-repressed, ruthless shit; at no time does he display emotion — although plenty of caustic humour — except when he is self-rightously justifying what he did for the Italian political system.
Don't go to this film expecting to learn about or understand the twists and turns of this chapter of Italian political life — the narrative is driven by Andreotti's character, rather than events.
Immensely stylish and spellbounding acting, but ultimately this film tells a very depressing story.
