TODO MODO (1976)

Italian auteur Elio Petri’s political allegory on the Christian Democrats and Aldo Moro (note how closely the title reflects his name), a savage satire on crony corruption masquerading as populism.  You’d imagine knowledge of the Italian political scene would be necessary to figure this one out, and while such info would clarify some things, more than enough comes thru without any background on the era.  (On the other hand, the kidnapping and murder of Moro by Radical Communists two years later made the film a rarity till a 2007 restoration.*)  When we enter the bunker-like complex that serves for a meeting of political power brokers, a national epidemic is already spinning out of control.  Inside, the men are led by a religious order that has it’s own agenda & priorities.  (This year’s CONCLAVE isn’t too far away - https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2024/11/conclave-2024.html.)  This highly stylized situation cunningly handled by Petri who knows how to turn us all into interloping voyeurs following the moves of Gian Maria Volontè for the secular side (though he’s desperate for religious absolution) and Marcello Mastroianni’s master priest and confessor of choice.  But rather than finding safety from the pandemic raging outside the brutalist-style facility, the participants are anything but safe, falling to murder within . . . or has the disease seeped thru the concrete?  Fascinating stuff, if not always clear.*  But what makes this essential viewing is Petri’s logistical control inside this mysterious complex, half rabbit warren/half convention center; and Mastroianni's staggering power in the second act when he’s had enough of the pomp and hypocrisy.  Who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?

DOUBLE-BIL/LINK:  Petri still largely known for his Oscar’d & Cannes’d INVESTIGATION OF A CITIZEN ABOVE SUSPICION.  https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2014/07/indagine-su-un-cittadino-al-di-ogni.html

SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY/LINK:  *The film’s fortunes not unlike THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE/’63 which was pulled out of distribution for decades after JFK’s assassination.  https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2017/07/the-manchurian-candidate-1962.html

ATTENTION MUST BE PAID:  *And you don’t need to know a thing to laugh when mass comes to a halt because someone has stolen the hosts!  As if they were missing Girl Scout Trefoil cookies.