Fabrizio De André: Principe libero

The film opens on the evening of 27 August 1979. At the Agnata estate in Sardinia, near Tempio Pausania, Fabrizio De André and his partner, the singer Dori Ghezzi, are kidnapped. Across four months of captivity De André remembers his life, and the film opens backwards from there. Played by Luca Marinelli, De André moves through his Genoese childhood, the law studies he abandoned, nights with Paolo Villaggio, his friendships with Luigi Tenco and Riccardo Mannerini, his first album and first marriage, up to the day his father paid the ransom. Valentina Bellè, Elena Radonicich and Ennio Fantastichini are in the cast. The most honest thing about the structure is that it does not use the kidnapping for suspense. After his release De André forgave his captors and said the real criminals were the ones who paid, and the film holds to that position. Luca Facchini directed. It played in cinemas on 23 January 2018 and then aired as a two-part series on Rai 1, running a hundred and ninety-three minutes in total. Who it is for: viewers curious about the Italian songwriting tradition and about De André. Who it is not for: anyone unfamiliar with his music, since the film assumes you know what the songs weigh.