CANNES, France (AFP) — Italy's powerful crime bosses and corrupt politicians have mesmerised the Cannes crowd as the country's young film-makers bring its chequered political scene to the festival.
Both of Italy's two contenders for the top Cannes prize, to be selected from 22 films on Sunday, focus on crime and corruption in films warmly acclaimed by critics.
And both complained of the reaction at home for daring to shovel dirt into the movie spotlight.
"In Italy, when you talk about your country you're accused of defaming it," said Matteo Garrone, 39-year-old maker of the hard-hitting "Gomorra" based on the best-seller expose about Naples' Camorra mafia penned by Roberto Saviana.
"We need truth," he said. "Keeping silent about what goes on in our country is a way of vilifying our country, which is why telling the story is necessary."
Paolo Sorrentino, 37, meanwhile had trouble raising funds to make "Il Divo", a ferocious, bitingly witty look at seven-time prime minister Giulio Andreotti, who was acquitted in court of ties with the mafia.
Though focused on similar themes, the two Italian entries for Cannes' coveted Palme d'Or take radically different tacks and are among leading contenders for the prize on the strength of their original cinematic approach.
Garrone's "Gomorra" is shot in flat realist style, almost documentary-like, following a web of characters from teenage gunmen to a Camorra cashier to a wealthy businessman behind illegal toxic waste dumping schemes.
He said the style of the film was "very much inspired by war reportage".
"I wanted the movie to have a very strong emotional impact, to give the spectator a feeling of really being there, of almost being able to catch the smells," he said.
"Il Divo" charts the fall from grace of Andreotti, now 89 and a senator for life, who spent a half-century swirling in the political waters of Italy.
"I was aiming to look at a period in our history that is already being swept aside," he said.
Shot in Italy's luxury palaces of power, fast-paced "Il Divo" portrays Andreotti as a sometimes comic, sometimes sinister modern-day Machiavelli.
Almost operatic in style, the film uses an eclectic soundtrack to back up the story as Andreotti, stressfully twisting a ring around his finger, is shot hob-nobbing with his Christian Democrat faction and high members of the church, or plotting in parliament to snatch votes.
Talking to his local priest about his interest in the church, Andreotti says "Priests vote. God doesn't."
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