Cadaveri eccellenti (1976)
Directed by Francesco Rosi

Film Review

This alluring mix of political thriller and crime mystery from Italian director Francesco Rosi makes a powerful and disturbing allegory of political corruption, of the kind which would shake various countries (includinig the director's native Italy) in the follow decade.  The films sustains its heavy, funereal atmosphere and gnawing suspense right up until the last frame, making it a compelling and profoundly unsettling piece of cinema in which nothing should be taken at face value.

The film stars Lino Ventura, a French actor (and one-time wrestler) best known for playing heavy roles in gritty crime thrillers such as Jean-Pierre Melville's Le Deuxième souffle.  His performance in this film is one of his best, his rough taciturn persona making him perfect for this kind of classic film noir role, that of the tough solitary hero caught in the net of an unseen, unconquerable opponent.

It is, above all, the atmospheric yet chillingly beautiful cinematography which makes Cadaveri eccellenti such a memorable film.   The film opens with a somewhat sickening sequence in Palermo's Convento dei Cappuccini, with the camera panning along row after row of decaying mummified corpses - an obvious yet powerful metaphor for the themes of state corruption which predominate in the later half of the film.  The film's very strong visual sense, on the one hand dark, doom-laden and menacing, on the other exquisitely artistic, gives the film its unfathomable depth and makes us increasingly aware of a threat which is far too small to be encompassed by the camera lens.  The desperately bleak ending hits its audience like a hail of bullets and makes a deeply pessimistic comment on the future of any society where all power is invested in the hands of a select few. It's a stylish and haunting work - the essence of what we now term the neo-polar.

Film Synopsis

Investigating the murder of two important magistrates, Varga and Sanza, in a small town in the south of Italy, Inspector Rogas soon has good reason to belief that the two crimes are connected.  When two other magistrates go the same way, Rogas finds he has a likely suspect in a pharmacist, who was wrongly convicted of trying to murder his wife some years ago.  Just as the case appears to be wrapped up, more killings follow and the inspector has to revise his theories.

As the series of murders starts to look like an epidemic, Rogas receives instructions from above to redirect his investigation towards various leftwing groups, who may be pursuing some kind of politically motivated campaign of terror against the Italian judiciary.  Rogas is a shrewd man who knows when he is being manipulated.  It soon becomes apparent to him that the murders are nothing more than a pretext to ferment public discontent with the present government.  If his suspicions are correct, the country could well be heading for a violent right-wing takeover.  His own life might also be in peril, now that he suspects the truth...