Slap the Monster on Page One

A schoolgirl is found murdered in Milan. The editor of a right-wing paper uses it at once: he prepares a front page pointing at the left-wing student movement around her. Who actually killed her does not concern the paper; an election is coming and the story is doing its job. The subject is not the murder but how news is manufactured. The film takes place inside the paper: meetings, arguments over headlines, the choice of photograph, the correction. The lie is not one person's decision; everyone adds a small piece and the result assembles itself. The form is dry and fast. There is almost no music, the scenes are short and the camera is usually among the desks. The film never offers the viewer a moral exit. Its own history is interesting. It was to be directed by the screenwriter Sergio Donati and conceived as a crime story set in journalism. Marco Bellocchio took it over, rewrote the text with Goffredo Fofi and turned it into an openly political film. The result is entirely different from the original intention. Gian Maria Volonté plays the editor and the film's centre of gravity is largely his performance. Who it is for: viewers who like Italian political cinema and criticism of the press. Who it is not for: anyone without the background; the film is tightly bound to the Italian politics of its moment.