Il Divo
Il Divoi is one of the greatest caricatures ever made. I still recall the exact moment when O. L. Scalfaro's government was surprisingly announced ; I remember thinking Andreotti looked exactly like here reconstructed by Servillo, under the magic whip of Sorrentino. Exactly!
Italian politics were indeed incomprehensibly byzantine at all times ; I do not expect our square-jawed friends from the Colombian swamps to have the slightest notion that'd support the most modest modicum of comprehension. Nevertheless, to this untenable standard Il Divo is excellent caricature : substantially identical in all the points required ; and wildly, frothyly divergent -- occasionally outright apposite -- at all the junctures where it's worth doing. Because yes, evidently civilised people would do anything for a joke -- what the fuck is civilisation even supposed to mean, beyond that ?!
I do not recommend you watch this film, as I do not expect it's in any sense for you. It is however to every degree a major accomplishment of cinema, regarded from a purely anthropologic point of view, as the human endeavour qua se. Consequently, I don't know that the matter can be adequately discussed in the narrow terms of "liking" -- and besides, the notable advantage of old age is that it opens up enjoyment of perfections lesser youth doesn't even suspect exist.
Il Divo is what it is, and perfectly fine exactly as it stands ; precisely as Andreotti once was -- and as you will never be.
———- 2008, by Paolo Sorrentino, with Toni Servillo, Giulio Bosetti, Flavio Bucci, Carlo Buccirosso, Giorgio Colangeli and Anna Bonaiuto. [↩]
