SACCO AND VANZETTI   1971
Directed by  Giuliano Montaldo
125 minutes
In Italian with English subtitles

This flick is one of the greatest examples of dramatically-charged Italian cinema. It came from the 1970s, when cinema was fused with real life and people felt responsible for the world around them. The main actor Gian Maria Volontè (A Fistful of Dollars) was one of those beautiful souls from that era with a sense of social engagement - which was always reflected in the movies he decided to participate in. When this movie was made he was legendary, and he gave one of his most powerful performances as Vanzetti.

It's based on a true event that happened in the United States, but the film remains totally relevant to what is happening today on so many fronts. It revolves around two Italian immigrants who were politically active and therefore set up on false murder charges. This was at a time when the rage against 'dirty Italians' was strong, just as it is today with the problems at the Mexican border. Even though the trial of Sacco and Vanzetti was shot-full of contradictions, both men would be executed in the electric chair. 

This film brings up a lot of moral issues, and it questions the idea of democracy in a society based on money, a biased media, and a ruling class elite. Movies and books are about 1000 times more profound and rich than learning from social media which is full of algorithms, bubbles, 'social glitches' and is scattered like hell, without any context. Cinema like this can offer historical perspective. This film shows how anti-immigration resentment is buried deep in the American psyche, and how the media can be used by governments to whip up resentment and demonise people they want to get rid of. Julian Assange would be a contemporary example… luckily, Julian wasn't killed, but he was smashed to bits, and it is a broken man. 

The music soundtrack is absolutely thunderous - sung by Joan Baez and composed by Ennio Morricone. It's considered to be one of his best scores, and even musician Scott Walker did his own version of the theme song because this was one of his favourite films. 

A riveting flick, based on real events, about how the justice and legal system can be used to target anyone it wants to dispose of. One of the fundamental movies of Italian cinema, and it's criminal that it's been marginalised and disappeared.