ROMANZO CRIMINALE (CRIME NOVEL)

Italy, 2005, 152 minutes, Colour.
Kim Rossi Stuart, Anna Mouglalis, Pia Francesco Favino, Claudia Santamaria, Stefano Accorsi, Riccardo Scamacio, Jasmine Trinca.
Directed by Michele Placido.

Romanzo Criminale is based on a novel by Giancarlo de Cataldo who adapted the novel for the screen. It is directed by veteran actor and director Michele Placido.

The film aims to be something of an Italian Godfather. It traces Italian gangsters in Rome from the 1960s to the 1990s. The initial film focuses on a character called The Lebanese (Pier Francesco Favino). He is determined to build up the best gang in Rome, overcoming his more powerful enemies, and trying to build up a group who will eventually succeed him. Eventually, he overreaches himself with megalomania - and is a reader of books about famous dictators.

His successors are different characters. First is Fredo played by Kim Rossi Stuart (The Keys of the House). He is a softer character but becomes ruthless. The other leader, Dandi (Claudio Santamaria), is a more carefree type, careless about his interactions with people. Tracking them through the decades is the intense police commissioner played by Stefano Accorsi.

The film traces the kind of gangster life, crimes, police investigations during those decades. However, it also focuses on the history of Italy at that time, especially the terrorist movements. One of the key episodes in the film is the terrorist bombing of the station in Bologna.

Ultimately, the gangs overreach themselves and destroy themselves, many of the characters ending up in prison.

The film will have a great impact on Italian audiences who have experienced these stories. Non-Italians? will view the episodes and the characters with interest – but as observers from outside.

1.An Italian crime story? The influence of the 70s and the spaghetti gangster films? The influence of The Godfather: a Godfather film without the mythology of criminals and the Mafia or the operatic overtones?

2.The title, the popular crime novel? The visual treatment of this kind of novel? Adapted by the novelist?

3.The film in three parts on the different leadership of the gang, the different focus? But the overall study of the gang, the groupings within the gang?

4.The Rome settings, the 60s to the 80s? The details and realistic look at the city? The suburbs, the streets? The beach and the coast? The mansions? Prisons? Authentic – with the slang used by the characters?

5.The prologue, the children, stealing the car, the crash, the police chase, their taking special nicknames? Grand dying? Ice, Dandi and the Lebanese surviving? The Lebanese saving the other boys? The return to this theme at the end, Grand living, what if everything changed?

6.The section on the Lebanese: his going to prison, the people that he met in prison and later used, the other members of the gang in prison? His grandiose image of himself? His discussion about Roman emperors and reading about them? His plan? Abducting the wealthy businessman, the treatment, the promises, the photos? His killing the man? The money going down and the bargaining, yet their getting the money? His idea about leadership, investing in drugs? The gang and his leadership and the others in the hierarchy? The introduction to the various members of the new gang, criminal types, their different functions? At work, the money, the deals? The issues of dividing the money or not? The interrelationships in the group? Rivalries, tough, the club? The Lebanese and the police? The relationship with Patrizia? The police pursuit, especially Scialoja? The conflict, the jealousy of the other members of the group, the poker game, his being killed? His killer on the run? Ice’s reaction?

7.Ice and his leadership, more quiet, younger? His background? Friendship and loyalty to the Lebanese? His participation in the deals? Interactions with the group, the police? His relationship with his brother, his studies, his drug-taking? The encounter with Roberta, her coaching his brother? The attraction? Her taking him to the church, the Caravaggio painting and its significance, the Madonna reaching out to pilgrims? The interactions with Scialoja? His discussion about confession – and not even confessing to God? The impact of his brother’s death? His being with Roberta, love, not telling her the truth, the possibility of change? The death of the Lebanese and his change of attitude, vengeance, his pursuit of the killers, the achievement? The friendship with Dandi, the tension? With Rat? With Black and the others? His pursuit of the killer? The Bologna episode, the terrorist attack on the railway station, his arrest? The background of the terrorism and the abduction of Aldo Moro in the late 70s? His giving himself up? The confrontation with Scialoja? His going to prison? The group in the prison, Rat?

8.Dandi and his leadership, his life and style, his place in the gang, ruthlessness? Loyalty to the Lebanese and Ice? The encounters with Patrizia, his wanting to own her, control her? Yet her wanting the house for the brothel? The Lebanese supporting her? Dandi’s rivalry with Ice? The decision? Patrizia persuading him not to kill Ice – and his later revelation that he knew what she was doing? The interactions with Scialoja? His prosperity over the years – his death?

9.Scialoja from Bologna, coming to Rome, his manner of investigation, the interrogation of Patrizia, the beginnings of the affair – and the on and off relationship over the years? His attitude, his pursuit? Clues, moles? The Lebanese’s diary? The Bologna episode and the arrests, the interrogations? The irony of his not being killed by Dandi’s order and the intercession of Patrizia? At the end, Ice’s death? The people behind the scenes, the higher authorities, the relationship to national security, the manipulation of terrorism? His being put in his place?

10.Patrizia, the call girl, her clients, the club, her relationship with Dandi, the ownership of the building? Her power over Dandi? The relationship with Scialoja? The fire and his treating her as a lady, as a motivation for trying to save him? Her behaviour, help? Pleading?

11.The contrast with Roberta, the Madonna-like character? Her taking Ice to see the Madonna picture? Meeting Ice, his brother? The relationship? Ice’s escape, going to France, the idyllic time together, her grief at his death? Her own death and her being a victim of gang warfare?

12.Ice, the plan for his escape, Dandi effecting it, the pressure on the doctor, the samples of blood? His going to hospital, going to France, his dying, coming back to kill his enemies, the irony of his being shot in vengeance?

13.Black, the ruthless killer, his participation in the group, the others, the drugs, the clubs?

14.A portrait of young gangsters in Rome, the changes over the decades? The ugliness of the issues? The question of what gave rise to their criminal behaviour, their flourishing, their being used by authorities and linked with terrorism? The film’s message about government and masked intentions and working behind the scenes?