Italian Film Screening: Il Divo

This Italian biographical drama is based on the controversial figure of Giulio Andreotti, a seven-time prime minister of Italy who was tried and acquitted for ties to the Mafia.

dir. Paolo Sorrentino, 2008, 110’, in Italian with English subtitles 

Sometimes called Divo Giulio (from Divus Iulius, “Divine Julius”, an epithet of Julius Caesar), this politician was also tried and acquitted for the murder of Italian journalist Mino Pecorelli, and was senator for life from 1991 to his death.

The narration spans the period from Andreotti’s seventh election in 1992, to his failed bid for the presidency of the Italian Republic, to the Tangentopoli bribe scandal, until his trial in 1995.

This film competed at the Cannes Film Festival in 2008, where it was awarded the Jury Prize. Andreotti died on May 6, 2013, aged 94. The New York Times noted he had “a résumé of signal accomplishments and checkered failings that reads like a history of the republic”. It’s Mr. Andreotti’s long career along with the history of Italian republic that we are going to explore in depth with the last film of this series.

Admission to this event is free.

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