Confissões de um Comissário de Polícia

Political thriller by Damiano Damiani (BULLET FOR THE GENERAL, HOW TO KILL A JUDGE) that creates a world so vivid that every time I watch it, I forget Franco Nero didn't dub his own voice. The opening scene takes place in a Sicilian mad house, hundreds of years old, fortified with decaying stone. It is here that we first hear Riz Ortolani's amazing theme, a fuzz-tone guitar and a melancholy orchestra, and the ranting and moans of madmen. We see Captain Bonavia (Martin Balsam, who did dub his own voice) arrange for the release of LiPuma, a psychotic criminal obsessed with cleanliness who is no sooner free than he makes an attempt on the life of a gangster named D'Ambrosio, which results in the deaths of Lipuma and several of D'Ambrosio's thugs, but not D'Ambrosio. It is immediately hinted that Bonavia arranged for LiPuma's release for just this reason. The mystery here isn't who did what, but why he did it, and who you're supposed to root for: Captain Bonavia, the official made cynical and allegedly irresponsible by years on the job, who may or may not be motivated by graft, or DA Traini (Franco Nero), who investigates the attempt on D'Ambrosio's life. Traini is young and idealistic and immediately suspects Bonavia's involvement. Bonavia is fifty going on a hundred and mocks Traini at every turn as he fills him in on the history of a city built, literally, on corpses. Damiani underlines the similarities between these two men--does Traini embody the idealism Bonavia lost, are they both just stooges of a corrupt, ancient system--in subtle ways, and he, along with Balsam, builds Bonavia's character with equal aplomb. You can watch this film repeatedly and see these subtleties, equal credit for which must go to Balsam's performance, which is one of his best, which is saying a lot. Minor characters, like LiPuma and his hunted sister, Serena, come across with enough depth to exacerbate the tension. Riz Ortolani's score chimes in at just the right moments to intensify the drama, which is what this really is, a drama that grabs you by the guts. Damiani's ability to create this kind of film, angry and topical, anti-establishment, but so lived-in, it never feels forced, deserves greater recognition. This one, especially, should be required viewing, despite the fact that I've never seen it in any form other than a cheesy DVD that probably capitalized on public domain and is dubbed (it should be noted that the Italians dubbed most of their films, even the Italian versions, and were good at it) and has glitches that lead me to believe it was mastered from VHS. Don't avoid; the integrity of the film survives.

This uncompromising look at power and corruption is fascinating. Although I had never heard of the film, the combination of cast, director, and subject matter piqued my curiosity, so I purchased a copy. I am glad I did. While this film is certainly not the most pleasant thing to watch, it does provide a daring insight into the corrupt world of crooked cops on the take and a mafia-controlled system which is frank and disturbing, and must have really been a shock to audiences in 1971. Fine performances and unflinching direction make this movie one which fans of the crime/cop-movie genre will not want to miss.

Damiano Damiani was an excellent, not fully appreciated, movie director. Most of his works share to some extent the same commitment Francesco Rosi's highly regarded movies did. They may be less an artistic achievement for they probably didn't share the same originality in style, but they are equally effective in communicating and shaking the audience with messages of social and ethical nature. This particular one again (after the excellent "L'Istruttoria è chiusa: dimentichi" and before my favorite "Io ho Paura") deals with the impossibility of fighting for Justice: organized criminality and its higher level allied (politicians, ministers, judges, etc.) create an invincible corrupted system. In his movies usually the conclusion is a bitter one, not much is left to hope. This time though, a brave policeman (Martin Balsam) decides to break the rules in order to achieve the goal, while district attorney (Franco Nero) leave us with an open end and some hope... In today's Italian political and social panorama (Berlusconi is the prime minister...), Damiano Damiani would have probably lost also that little faith. Sad times indeed (great movie though!).

Boom! Awesome, flawless movie. Doesn't get much better than this movie. Balsam's performance is so divine that it gives me goosebumps to this date. Highly recommended if you can find it. The pace is perfect...not too slow, not too fast. It unfolds wonderfully.

It's ironic that director Damiano Damiani is most famous today for "The Amityville Horror 2", which is somewhat underrated, but no one's idea of a great movie. He has actually made any number of films in many different genres, including at least four superlative ones I've seen in just the last year: "A Bullet for the General", "The Most Beautiful Wife", "How to Kill a Judge" and this one. This is a typical Italian police thriller in some ways, but rather than focusing solely on shoot-outs and high-speed car chases, it is more of a character study of two law enforcement agents, trying to do the right thing while fighting massive high-level corruption, but in very different ways. Martin Balsam is a the titular police captain who is willing to bend the law to go after a corrupt industrial cartel leader. For instance, he gets a sworn enemy of the man and the brother of the man's mistress released from a mental institution to allow him make an assassination attempt on the crooked industrialist. Franco Nero, on the other hand, plays the by-the-book district attorney who's torn between fighting the "corruption" of the police captain and the far more pervasive high-level corruption all around him. The two eventually form an uneasy alliance.

An American film would definitely come down in favor of one man or the other (most likely the vigilante police captain), but this film is not afraid to leave the whole matter morally ambiguous. It is also pretty pessimistic in tone, as things don't work out too well for either of them. Balsam and Nero are both great (the latter was also in Damiano's "How to Kill a Judge"). Marilu Tolo (who plays the mistress) is the only other real name actor. She was kind of an enigmatic actress, probably the most Sicilian-looking actress of her era (it's hard to believe she and the blonde-haired, blue-eyed Nero are from the same country). She has a much smaller role than the two men, but still manages to transcend the usual "nice piece" mold women were usually cast in in these types of films.

Unfortunately, this is currently available only as a VERY crappy-looking public domain flick on "The Grindhouse Collection Volume 1" DVD set. (The most low-rent bootlegger would be ashamed to sell a customer a DVD-R of a video in as bad of shape and as badly ported as this one). Still if you think the price is right on the whole set or you find it from another source, this is definitely a movie I would recommend to poliziani fans or anybody else.