Cinema: Gangster film sends polemics flying in Venice
Director Placido says MPs have 'done worse' than Milan villain
07 September, 15:49
(ANSA) - Rome, September 7 - A film accused of romanticising
a murderous Milanese gangster has set this year's Venice Film
Festival alight with polemics.Vallanzasca, Gli Angeli Del Male (Vallanzasca, The Angels of Evil) is based on the life of Renato Vallanzasca, 60, who is serving four life sentences after seven murders, three kidnappings and scores of armed robberies. Director Michele Placido came under heavy fire from police and victims associations before the film was presented to rousing applause Monday in the out-of-competition section of the world's oldest cinema fest.
They criticised him for, among other things, casting heartthrob actor Kim Rossi Stuart in the lead role, making Vallanzasca seem a charming, seductive figure and failing to consult victims' families during production.
The row escalated when Placido replied that Vallanzasca had an ''ethic to his evil'', that if he appeared seductive in the film it was because the work was true to life and that ''there are people in parliament who have done worse''.
Foreign Minister Franco Frattini was part of the backlash.
''I respect Placido but he should not allow himself to say things like this that cause confusion,'' Frattini said on Italian radio.
''Let's think of the victims' families. His reply was disgraceful''.
Italian police union SAP called for Vallanzasca, whose victims included police officers, to be stripped of Italian citizenship Tuesday.
''This man was a criminal and a murderer,'' said SAP Secretary General Nicola Tanzi. ''No matter what Placido says, he didn't have morals and the life of a police officer is not worth less than that of other people''. Vallanzasca was first sent to jail in 1972, but he escaped several times and spent long spells out as a fugitive.
He orchestrated many prison riots during his time inside.
He has mellowed with age though and now he is let out of custody during the day to work in a leather workshop.
The 67th Venice Film Festival opened last Wednesday with the world premiere of Black Swan, Darren Aronofsky's hotly awaited first film since his 2008 Golden Lion winner The Wrestler.
An unusually strong field of four Italian movies is among the 23 rivals Black Swan faces for this year's top prize.
The quartet is: Mario Martone's Noi Credevamo (We Believed); Ascanio Celestini's La Pecora Nera (The Black Sheep); Carlo Mazzacurati's La Passione (The Passion); and Saverio Costanzo's La Solitudine dei Numeri Primi (The Solitude of Prime Numbers).
The festival closes on Saturday.
photo: Italian director Michele Placido.
