Divo, Il
Director: Paolo Sorrentino
Year Released: 2008
Rating: 2.0
This is a flashy but hollow condemnation of former Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti, his corrupt regime and their alleged involvement with organized crime. Toni Servillo's performance is a lot of makeup and speaking in monotone: he sits like a disciplined schoolboy with hands on lap and feet together while Sorrentino fires out name after name of this person and that person in some way associated with the P.M. (cohorts, enemies, lawyers), throwing the book at a man who's spent a lifetime deflecting projectiles worse than books. It doesn't 'get to' the core of Andreotti, and Servillo's presence is just a shell: 'the male diva' is banal, evil and slippery. As of 2009, he's alive, free and in his 90's, proving that only the good die young.
