La Mafia 7 - Enquête sur la mort du commissaire Cattani

La Piovra is simply the best film about the mob. I'm very sad, that only the seasons 1-7 had been shown in German TV. I can't understand, that there is no way to buy it on DVD or on VHS. The series was a big success and I know a lot of people who have watched every repeat of the seasons 1-7, like myself. Only the 6. Season is a little worse than the other ones. The pace is fantastic, even it is a TV-series. The cast and acting is great. Not only fantastic Italian actors had been casted, but a lot of great European actors join the series too, like Bruno Craemer, Rolf Hoppe, Mario Adorf. Now, in 2005 in Germany the first three seasons a released on DVD (German dubbed and Italian) and, as I read in the net, they startet on DVD in Portugal, France and Sweden. In the Netherlands you got the first four seasons in Italian with dutch subtitels. I hope, that this will bring more people to the series.

This was the apex of La Piovra, an Italian miniseries that is unsurpassed. In its own way it is the Godfather in an operatic way. Its villains are over the top (Remo Girone has a great performance going overborad but within limits) as the heroes and heroines are above reproach (great performances also by Michele Placido and the judge). Even the beautiful pawn acted by Simona Cavallari is well done.Its ending is real, if a bad omen to the Piovras that followed ,that went into a sea of mediocrity. I learned Italian especially to understand this miniseries. It is a great pity that it is not on the net. If you like mystery and police stories this is for you. I have never seen a miniseries as good.

In this Piovra movie Davide Licata is shot down by a mafia killer he survives and after months of recovering he comes in contact with the anti mafia group Nucleo, Davide decides to work for them. his first mission; to find Tano carridi the master brain of the mafia wherever he is and bringing him to them. They want tano as Bait for the New Godfather but Tano isn't exactly what he used to be.

This one has a whole other concept than the other Piovra movies, its concentrating more on the Mafia KGB connection than the Politic intrigues we also getting to see a whole other Tano than we know, the relation with his sister Maria is one important parts of the story. unlike the other parts there is not really much violence, there is more threat than shooting. The Acting is Very Good again we get a wide variation of characters who aren't just good and bad but are just a human as you and me, Camera work Music it's al just fine the only thing weak here is the final which is a little bit to long, but like the rest of the series it's Great entertainment

La Piovra, or SPRUT in Russian, the version that I saw as a boy in early nineties is nothing short of a masterpiece. American audiences are all over the Sopranos, a good series in its own right, but that is because they did not experience La Piovra.

The story of the series at first follows Commissar Cattani and his relentless fight against the Italian mafia and the corrupt bureaucracy. Every episode is full of smart dialogs, rich characters, suspenseful plot,and action. The newer episodes follow the work of a new commissar (I don't want to give away why this happens, watch it and you will see), who just like his predecessor selflessly fights the mob.

The series is mostly shot in Italy and later on in Czech Republic I believe, so scenery does change.

Fortunately for me the local Los Angeles Armenian mom and pop video stores carry the Russian language VHS tapes of the complete series as it was shown in the early nineties, all I need now is a summer holiday to re watch the whole series, it is absolutely worth it.

I consider "La Piovra" as a movie (despite of being it TV-series) equal to such masterpieces as "Godfather" by Copolla or "Once Upon A Time in America" by Leone. It seems that only italians may create really impressive and realistic movies about mafia. There must be something in the blood ;-)

If you are looking for the intelligent script, impressive pace and atmosphere, real characters from the blood and flesh, perfect acting - you will like "La Piovra". There is not much action but there is a lot of life. And death.