Sacco e Vanzetti

This is the second of director Giuliano Montaldo's thematic trilogy depicting the use and abuse of power, military, religious and in this film, needless to say, judicial.

Based upon a play and set against a background of the Red Scare, this takes in the arrest, trial and execution of two avowed Italian anarchists for homicide and bank robbery. Neither Sacco nor Vanzetti did themselves any favours by rambling on in the courtroom about radical politics but it is certain that they were the victims of a corrupt police investigation, unreliable and probably intimidated witnesses, questionable ballistics reports and worst of all, a blatantly biased, far Right judge who denied motions for a retrial despite new evidence coming to light that would have exonerted the accused. The Governor of the State appointed a commission to look at the conduct of the trial and it predictably upheld the verdict.

Most of the film has been shot in Dublin which accounts for the presence of Cyril Cusack and Milo O'Shea as counsels for the prosecution and defence whilst Geoffrey Keen looks stern and does a lot of gavel bashing as the infamous Judge Thayer. By all accounts the producers had wanted Yves Montand and Lino Ventura to play the title characters but one could not do better than Riccardo Cucciola and Gian Maria Volonté, the latter well known for his far Left beliefs. Cucciola has the showier role and picked up the awards whilst Volonté's performance is masterfully understated.

The production design by Aurelio Grugnola and Silvano Ippoliti's cinematography give us a real sense of 'being there' whilst the events of seven years, although of necessity merged and truncated, are powerfully presented. Ennio Morricone's score includes a ballad sung by noted activist Joan Baez using the words of Emma Lazarus inscribed on the Statue of Liberty. It is noticeable in the English version that the pro-anarchic sentiments are toned down and interesting to note that the makers have chosen not to feature the Wall Street Bombing of 1920 which killed forty and injured hundreds.

As well as worldwide demonstrations condemning the death sentence, many intellectuals at the time made their feelings plain in print, including Anatole France who likened the process to that of the Dreyfus Affair whilst H. G. Wells wrote: "Trying and executing murderers as Reds and Reds as murderers is a new and frightening line for the court of a State in the most powerful and civilised Union on earth to pursue".

Most powerful? Indisputably. Most civilised? Doubtfully.

In 1920, the anarchist Italian immigrants Niccola Sacco (Riccardo Cucciolla) and Bartolomeo Vanzetti (Gian Maria Volonté) are sentenced to death, falsely accused of a robbery and murder. Indeed they are condemned due to their political beliefs, in one of the most shameful and hypocrite judgments of the human history. In 1971, the exhibition of "Sacco and Vanzetti" was forbidden in Brazil, and the first time I could watch it was when Brazil was leaving the military dictatorship regime in a movie theater specialized in art movies. I was very impressed with the story of one of the greatest injustice of a judiciary system, mostly because it happened in the "land of freedom". Gian Maria Volonté, as usual, and Riccardo Cucciolla offer one of the most touching and beautiful dramatic interpretations I have ever seen. This movie was recently released by the best (not in quantity of titles but in their quality) Brazilian distributors called Versatil. The DVD is completely restored, in widescreen and full of Extras, showing footages of this infamous trial. The musical score of Joan Baez and Ennio Morricone is another attraction. I expected to see this outstanding movie among the IMDb Top 250, but it seems that its worldwide distribution does not work well, and there are only 185 votes in 2005. My vote is ten.

Title (Brazil): "Sacco & Vanzetti"

A very gripping and moving film with a very fine cast and strong performances. This film makes a very strong impact and will make you think of Sacco and Vanzetti and the reasons why they were executed on the electric chair.

It is perhaps not without significance that Guiliano Montaldo worked as Assistant Director on Gillo Pontecorvo's brilliant KAPO, since there is a tangible link in terms of attitude, emotional power and political commitment between this film and Pontecorvo's other outstanding films.

Great films are, very often, a means of conveying ideas, and, as Pudovkin once said, film is the greatest teacher because it reaches us both through the head and the emotions. Maybe this is why politically correct authoritarians are always chiding us `not to be sentimental' since emotions are something these control freaks can't orchestrate!

Whatever one's views about the political sympathies of Sacco and Vanzetti, this film shows that they were victims of the hysterical climate of the times and place in which they found themselves, and their plight is represented with great humanism, empathy and power, helped in no small measure by the superb musical score of Ennio Morricone, which must rank as one of his very best. Montaldo's whole technique is thoroughly cinematic, and the acting and all technical credits are faultless.

One somewhat disturbing aspect of this film however, was when I saw it in the USA, Sacco in his final speech from the dock declared, `We stand here because we are anarchists', (it struck at the time because I never thought I'd live to see the day that such a piece of dialogue would be delivered in a film distributed by MGM!), but, in its only screening in the UK on BBC television, this line was changed to `We stand here because we are radicals'. Hmmm! Not quite the same thing. On two other occasions I have noticed `creative subtitling' on French speaking movies, so maybe we should start a campaign for accurate and faithful subtitles!

A brilliant film, in my all-time top 100, so when is anyone going to issue it on video?

What great roles for Gian Maria Volontè and Riccardo Cucciolla, two excellent actors! Very good Cyril Cusack and Geoffrey Keen too, in two roles of villains law enforcement officials! Milo O'Shea and William Prince are also very good as the lawyers trying to save Nicola and Bart. Another film that demonstrates that the idea of humanity is only a lie, real democracy doesn't exist, and the justice is just a bad joke. Morricone and Joan Baez are excellent too.