Starring: Toni Servillo, Riccardo Scarmacio
Distributor: Palace Films
Runtime: 152 mins. Reviewed in Jan 2019
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Loro is the Italian for “Them”. And, here, who is Them?
Writer-director, Paolo Sorrentino, has made quite a name for himself in Italy and internationally. In the past he has made some telling domestic dramas, has been highly critical in his portrait of Christian Democrat politician, Giulio Andreotti, in the film Il Divo he also won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film for La Grande Bellezza, The Great Beauty, in 2013, wandering through contemporary Italian society, social, political, ecclesiastical, his working in the Federico Fellini tradition, the 21st-century La Dolce Vita. Then he made the television series, The Young Pope, with Jude Law as Pius XIII, a young American cardinal who firmly believes in his own infallibility and treats the church as such. Quite a record for a decade of film and television-making.
Loro is quite ambitious. Again, one might note the tradition of Fellini, once again the overtones of La Dolce Vita.
The film is in two parts. The first focuses on a young man with entrepreneurial ambitions and dreams, Sergio (Riccardo Scarmacio) who is not afraid of political blackmail and using sexual intrigue to gain his contracts. He comes from the Italian South, is married to an ambitious woman who has been connected with politicians in the past. It is to be noted that his father, of the old school, heartily disapproves of his son and his behaviour. Then Sergio moves to Rome. However, his ambitions is to meet the mysterious industrialist who has a mansion on the island of Sardinia.
In the second part, we see this mysterious figure in his mansion, having succeeded in building up a fortune, in business, in ownership of football teams, in power over several networks on television. He is not a fictitious character (the opening information for the film indicating that it is based on fact – but always on interpretation of fact). And the figure is Silvio Berlusconi.
For Italian audiences, there will be no difficulty in identifying Berlusconi, remembering who he has been, his years in political power, his conservative stances politically but his permissiveness, socially, in his life, in the media. (Italian writer-director, Nanny Moretti, also had a film about Berlusconi, very critical, in 2008, Il Camaino). For non-Italian audiences, the film may be something of a revelation, needing to be checked in some detail with authenticated facts, but certainly fostering a dislike and distain for Berlusconi.
Sorrentino has been very well served in several films by the presence of Toni Servillo. He portrayed Andreotti in Il Divo. He was at the centre of The Great Beauty. He is the embodiment, sometimes with a touch of the grotesque, especially his black-plastered hair, make up, giving something of an impression that he is an embalmed Bella Lugosi.
So, the second part of the film shows his ascent, political coming, the persuasion of six senators to cross the floor and enable him to move into leadership. But, his wife is exasperated and leaves him. And, what about Sergio? He comes into the good graces of Berlusconi, has shown that he is able to organise social events, round up plenty of attractive women, would-be actresses, starlets, the sexy kind of emphasis that was a mark of Berlusconi’s television productions. But, Sergio is no match for Berlusconi. He does his will, but makes a poor judgement in asking about his preferment, falls by the wayside.
The film is long, perhaps indulgent in its portrayal of Berlusconi’s world, perhaps wallowing in the sexy glamour, but always targeting Berlusconi and his treatment of Italy. Probably best to check with a politically-savvy Italian to discover what is accurate and what is satire (or both?).
Peter Malone MSC is an Associate of the Australian Catholic Office for Film and Broadcasting.
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