A documentary which looks primarily at the state of television in Italy and its intense focus on lowest common denominator entertainment, but also explores questions about gender equality, media concentration and links between the media and the Italian President, Silvio Berlusconi.
The film follows four individuals -- a body-building, singing, dancing, karate black belt named Ricky Carnevale, an "agent" to the stars and unabashed fascist named Lele Moro, the head of a team of paparazzi with his own dreams of celebrity (Fabrizio Corona) and Berlusconi himself.
If there's a connecting thread in the documentary, it's this notion of the obsession with celebrity and its corrosive effect on Italian society.
The film is certainly successful at depicting this, but it's done on a purely emotional level. There is little in the way of analysis and, for me, it felt like I was just channel surfing. As it turned out, the director mentioned in the Q&A that it was his intention to make the film this way, as it was representative of the way that Berlusconi communicated with the Italian people. I think I would have preferred if he had tightened the focus and gone deeper with the subject matter.
That said, there are some truly surreal scenes from the movie, from the agent proudly playing the Mussolini hymns he has on his smart phone to a Berlusconi political ad that ends with the tag line "Thank God Silvio Exists".
Worth a look if it makes its way to TV.
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