/ARTS WEEKLY/FILM-ITALY: But There’s a Mafia Outside the Movies, Too

By Miren Gutierrez Reprint | | Print |

Miren Gutierrez*

ROME, Jul 26 2005 (IPS) - A spate of new films on the mafia comes with a health warning – the mafia may have gone off the news, but it is not gone yet.

"The fact is that the mafia has not disappeared," says Enzo Ciconte, consultant for the Anti-Mafia Parliamentary Commission. "It is as active as ever, very widely spread, precisely because common people are no longer paying attention to the issue."

Ciconte says the strategy of terror put in place by the mafia in the old times only contributed to an increasing social alarm that backfired. After the assassination of anti-mafia judge Paolo Borsellino in 1992, and the arrest in 1993 of the ‘boss’ Totò Riina (of the infamous Corleone family), the mafia changed its strategy to stop murdering high- profile people.

"Cosa Nostra, the Sicilian mafia, understood that continuing with the killing of key politicians and representatives of the judiciary would not be profitable any longer," Ciconte told IPS in an interview.

So the mafia almost disappeared from the front-pages and politicians’ agendas. It has returned to the screens, but what you see on screen is the mafia that was, not the mafia that is.

Film director and producer of a documentary on the Italian mafia, Armando Ceste, sees plain profits as the reason behind the renewed interest in making mafia-related movies.

"The downside is that due to the market demand and political implications, the production of mafia movies shies away from the brutal angle: the massacres, the violence, the mafia bosses and all the episodes that would easily provoke horror and indignation amongst viewers."

Any attempt to portray a connection between the mafia and the political class collides with an array of interests, including those that dominate the media sector, he says. And so the mafia movies released lately focus on criminal episodes from the past.

The murder of anti-mafia judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino in 1992 has generated some of the more realistic films about the mafia of those times.

The docudrama ‘Giovanni Falcone’ the precursor of these films, was released in 1993. It unfolded the real-life circumstances that led to the assassination of the crusading anti-mafia judge and his wife.

‘I Giudici’ (The Judges) was produced in 1999 by Italian director Ricky Tognazzi for the U.S. channel HBO. It is a story about the political battle waged against the mafia in Sicily during the late 1980’s and early 1990’s.

Released in 2003, ‘Gli Angeli di Borsellino’ (The Angels of Borsellino) tells the story of the last days of judge Borsellino and his escort, seen through the eyes of a female bodyguard.

‘Paolo Borsellino’ was released a year later, combining real television footage of the killing and a dramatisation of the judge’s struggle to defeat the mafia, and his fellow citizens’ indifference towards it.

Amongst the numerous mafia-related movies produced lately, ‘Alla Luce del Sole’ (Under the Sun), released in 2004 tells the story of Don Pino Puglisi, a parish priest assassinated in 1993 for his involvement in the battle against the mafia and its grip on the people of Sicilian capital Palermo.

In a similar realistic tone, ‘I Cento Passi’ (The One Hundred Steps) described in 2000 the life of Peppino Impastato, who created a small, self-financed radio station in Sicily in the 70’s to denounce the stranglehold of the mafia. He was assassinated in 1978.

‘I Fatti della Banda della Magliana’ (The Actions of the Gang of Magliana) released this year portrays the birth and demise of a notorious criminal gang active in Rome from 1975 to 1991. The release was accompanied by publication of the bestseller ‘Romanzo Criminale’ (Criminal Novel) written by judge Giancarlo De Cataldo. The book has inspired another movie.

More such productions are due. "But it is vital to address the links existing between mafia and politics," says Ceste.

"The mafia could proliferate for over 150 years because it is a state within the state. This is the real issue. We can keep producing movies and documentaries on the mafia but we can no longer ignore and avoid representing the present political liaisons between the mafia and the political system."

*Paola Pepere in Rome contributed to this report. Miren Gutierrez is IPS Editor in Chief.