Agnelli

This is a great documentary. People of my age get goosebumps in remembering the greater than life personality of Gianni Agnelli. But goosebumps even bigger in remembering the troubled history of Italy in the post war period and especially during the social upheavals of the '70 and '80. I suggest this documentary to anybody interested in Italy, its history, its problems and its myths....

Oh he was so charming, so smart, so likeable... That is what you expect to see when you watch a propaganda movie.

"Agnelli" is a skillfully produced documentary about Gianni Agnelli, the famous principal shareholder/chief of Fiat and a titan of mid-century Italian industry, as well as the charismatic prince of European society. Soak up the glamour, passion and tragedy of Agnelli's high-speed, rock star life, as well as the exploration of Italy's complex politics and economic turmoil in the post-war era through the 1970s. This glossy, fascinating film includes interviews from Agnelli's family and powerful friends, from Kissinger to Valentino. Interesting history and an in-depth look at the kind of glamorous, chic, elegant lifestyle that nobody has anymore, since today's mega-rich don't have the style or charisma of Gianni Agnelli. Nobody today can come close! Enjoy.

"Agnelli" (2017 release; 105 min.) is a documentary about the life and times of Italian business executive extraordinaire Gianni Agnelli, best known for his role as Chairman of Fiat. As the movie opens, we are in 1976 and Agnelli is giving a TV interview in which he expresses his deep concern for the rising Italian Communist Party, and the turmoil in Italian society in general. The movie then steps back and gives an introduction to his family background and upbringing in Turin, home of Fiat (and Juventus FC), eventually leading to Agnelli's becoming Fiat Chairman in 1966.

Couple of comments: this is the second documentary from director Nick Hooker, who just last year brought us the entertaining "Everything Is Copy" (about the life and times of Nora Ephron). Here he goes a very different direction, and tackles the flamboyant, if brilliant, Italian business executive, and the movie is divided into 5 chapters. Due to how the man lived his life (which kept him from fully functioning as a business man until his 40s), the first part of the movie focuses more on the playboy side of Agnelli. I mean, do I really care he had countless lovers (including apparently Jackie Kennedy, just to name that name)? The movie truly finds its footing when we get to "Part III: The Years of Lead", which focuses on the enormous upheaval in the mid/late 70s to early 80s when the Red Brigades terrorized Italian society (even kidnapping and killing Italy's Prime Minister in 1978) and how close the system came to a complete collapse. The "lead" to in the chapter title refers not just to bullets killing people but that the overall atmosphere was "very, very heavy", one of the talking heads explains. Hooker interviews tons of Agnelli family members, friends, business associates and others (including the guy who for 10 (!) years (1975-85) was the Communist mayor of Torino). It keeps the film moving forward quite nicely. But the very best part of the movie remains the chilling archive footage of the 60s, 70s and even 80s, as Fiat's business fortunes mirror a roller coaster.

"Agnelli" premiered recently as part of HBO's Documentary series, and I caught it just the other day on HBO on Demand. Despite a tentative start, which focuses too much on the personal side of Agnelli, I ended up very much enjoying this film, for reasons explained earlier, and would recommend that you check it out when you get the chance.

Giovanni Agnelli was suave, intelligent, and very, very rich. He inherited sole control of the giant FIAT corporation; and for a time, perhaps, embodied a certain ideal of the Italian elite. This documentary gives an account of his life, which sadly is extremely hagiographic, and which invites one to gasp in awe at his charm and ability while never questioning the shape of a world in which one man can possess all this stuff by right of birth. Indeed, at some times the film fades into absurdity: when his new wife wrongly thought she had married into a life of ease, Agnelli had her packed off the learn the job of hostess from an old family friend who just happened to own one of the most celebrated palazzi in Venice; time and time again the film presents similar actions as if the main reason the rest of use could not do something similar is because we lack Agnelli's brilliance, not because we lack his connections and money. It's a shame, because Agnelli clearly was a smart guy, and it would have been interesting to hear him talk some more, but without confusing "the smartest and most charming billionaire on the planet" with "the smartest and most charming guy in the world".