If you liked this movie, you should also see: À bout de souffle (1960)C.R.A.Z.Y. (2005)The Phantom Carriage (1921)Butterfly Kiss (1995)Funny Games (1997)
The movie is based on a true story. On 16 March 1978 Aldo Moro, the former Italian Prime Minister was kidnapped in Via Fani by the Brigate Rosse (Red Brigades), a militant Communist Italian group. He was the main supporter of the Compromesso Storico (Hystorical Compromise), which had to lead to the first Italian government supported by both the Christian Democrats and the Communists, in a period of social, economic and political crises. During the attack his five escort agents were all killed. Moro's corpse was found on 9 May 1978 in a car parked in a street between the headquarters of the Christian Democrat Party and the Communist Party. This movie is inspired by this tragic event which traumatize the whole nation. It focuses mainly on the relationship between the prisoner and his guards through the eyes of Chiara, the young woman whose role is to guard the prisoner. The movie portraits Chiara's life (her job as a librarian, the ordinary household) on one side and the political process which is held against Moro by her friends on the other, while they are waiting for a revolution to come. She is drawn between these two aspects and she begins to doubt her political commitment (she cries when she listens to Moro's letter to the Pope). The news tell the people what is going on in Italy (some politicians ask for the death penalty for the kidnappers, the Pope Paul VI appeals to the terrorist for Moro's release). The State will not bend by accepting the conditions established by the terrorists to release the prisoner. The Brigate Rosse sentence Moro to death and the story comes to its tragic end, although the eyes and the heart of the imagination show Aldo Moro walking happy and free in Rome.