Hands Over the City

A building collapses in Naples and two people die. An inquiry into responsibility begins, but the film does not become a story about a crime; the subject is how building permits, zoning plans and coalitions on the city council are actually assembled. Francesco Rosi shoots it like documentary, with real locations, crowded council chambers, non-professional performers and almost no music. Rod Steiger plays Nottola, a developer who is also a councillor, and refuses to make him a villain, showing him instead as the most efficiently functioning part of the system. The foundation-laying ceremony at the end summarises everything. It won the Golden Lion at Venice. Who it is for: viewers who like political cinema and films about institutions. Who it is not for: anyone wanting character drama, since this describes a mechanism rather than people.