The Moro Affair

Rome, 16 March 1978. The Red Brigades abduct Aldo Moro, leader of the Christian Democrats; five men of his escort are killed on the spot. A fifty-five-day wait begins. Moro writes letters from where he is held, asking the government to negotiate; his own party announces that the state does not talk to terrorists. The film's real subject is not the kidnappers but the men running those fifty-five days in Rome. On 9 May Moro's body is found in the boot of a car. Giuseppe Ferrara directs, with Gian Maria Volonté as Moro. A hundred and twelve minutes. The film rests on the documentary record rather than on interpretation; most of the letters come from the real texts.