“The most powerful Italian since Julius Caesar.”
A exquisitely crafted political thriller surrounding the real life (and death) of the head of Italy’s state oil company in the 1960s, Enrico Mattei. The film revolves around Mattei’s mysterious death by plane crash, which was deemed an accident but is still debated today, because Mattei was such a large figure within Italian politics and economy his death caused scepticism throughout the country, with many investigating if there was foul play. While the film opens with the plane crash and that event is the main focus of it, most of the film is focused on the life and dealings of Enrico Mattei as the head of Italy’s state run oil company. Played by my favourite actor at the moment, Gian Maria Volonté, Mattei is portrayed as a very intelligent, charismatic and passionate man who values his country and his people, he’s loved by the working man for his devotion to them. I found all the economic and political elements incredibly fascinating even though I don’t know much about it all, the dialogue and writing was exceptional at keeping the subject matter interesting. I really enjoyed the part of the film where Mattei was taking a journalist around all of the oil facilities and showing him the various cogs within the massive oil industry, it really helped accentuate the sheer scale of the oil industry and its influence. Piccionni’s powerful score is also an aspect I wanted to touch on, his ambient electronic score adds so much to the films atmosphere and gives the film an almost Michael Mann like suave, again accentuating the amount of power oil holds in the economy. Volonté’s performance was phenomenal, his charisma and acting ability is so intoxicating and just heightens the film’s quality by about 200%, he’s becoming one of my favourite actors of all time due to his unique personality and ability to embody the character (person) to absolute convincing perfection. Visually this film is also terrific, it’s got the essence of a documentary with the various interviews and often handheld camera but also has that sleek and polished political film appeal that just makes it so cooly authentic.
“The most powerful Italian since Julius Caesar.”
A exquisitely crafted political thriller surrounding the real life (and death) of the head of Italy’s state oil company in the 1960s, Enrico Mattei. The film revolves around Mattei’s mysterious death by plane crash, which was deemed an accident but is still debated today, because Mattei was such a large figure within Italian politics and economy his death caused scepticism throughout the country, with many investigating if there was foul play. While the film opens with the plane crash and that event is the main focus of it, most of the film is focused on the life and dealings of Enrico Mattei as the head of Italy’s state run oil company. Played by my favourite actor at the moment, Gian Maria Volonté, Mattei is portrayed as a very intelligent, charismatic and passionate man who values his country and his people, he’s loved by the working man for his devotion to them. I found all the economic and political elements incredibly fascinating even though I don’t know much about it all, the dialogue and writing was exceptional at keeping the subject matter interesting. I really enjoyed the part of the film where Mattei was taking a journalist around all of the oil facilities and showing him the various cogs within the massive oil industry, it really helped accentuate the sheer scale of the oil industry and its influence. Piccionni’s powerful score is also an aspect I wanted to touch on, his ambient electronic score adds so much to the films atmosphere and gives the film an almost Michael Mann like suave, again accentuating the amount of power oil holds in the economy. Volonté’s performance was phenomenal, his charisma and acting ability is so intoxicating and just heightens the film’s quality by about 200%, he’s becoming one of my favourite actors of all time due to his unique personality and ability to embody the character (person) to absolute convincing perfection. Visually this film is also terrific, it’s got the essence of a documentary with the various interviews and often handheld camera but also has that sleek and polished political film appeal that just makes it so cooly authentic.
