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EXCELLENT CADAVERS
Directed by: Marco Turco.
Produced by: Vania Del Borgo.
Written by: Vania Del Borgo, Alexander Stille & Marco Turco, based on the book by Stille.
Director of Photography: Franco Lecca & Enzo Carpineta.
Edited by: Luca Gazzolo.
Music by: Andrea Pandolfo.
Released by: First Run/Icarus Films.
Language: English & Italian with English subtitles.
Country of Origin: Italy/France. 92 min. Not Rated.

The Italian Government Tourist Board’s worst nightmare: Marco Turco’s absorbing and gut-wrenching look on the Sicilian Mafia and the Italian government’s attempts to crush it is essential viewing for anyone interested in recent Italian history. At a rapid-fire pace, this blood-soaked documentary begins with news footage of the shocking 1992 killings of two leading magistrates, Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, both of whom were relentlessly involved in Italy’s most far-reaching investigation and prosecution of organized crime. Following the connection between these high-profile murders, journalist Alexander Stille narrates his journey back to Sicily, “where appearance and reality can be confused.” His 1996 book of the same title is the basis of the film.

Stille’s guide through many of the crime sites is wry photojournalist Letizia Battaglia. Her unsparing photos of the carnage are far too graphic for most American print media. Born and raised in Palermo, she has seen it all, remembering a time when no one would dare utter publicly the word Mafia all the way to the bloody ‘70’s, when the Mafia attacked those investigating it and later became involved in its own internal war. The Mafia from the small “red neck” town of Corleone (sound familiar?) eliminated the weaker Palermo crime families, gaining control of Sicily’s largest city. In 1982 alone, over 1,000 people were murdered.

Turco packs in a lot of information, considering the convoluted Italian politics at play, giving the viewer a wide-ranging view. The most detailed segment describes the "maxi-trial," held in an underground bunker, where 475 mob defendants were tried together. It would be one of the state’s few all-out victories. Aiding the prosecution was mobster-turned-state witness Tommaso Buscetta, who broke the Mafia’s code of silence.

The film’s most disturbing revelations concern the Italian government’s longtime collusion with organized crime; seven-time Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti was acquitted of Mafia ties only in 2003, due to statutory limitations. Former PM Silvio Berlusconi’s connections will probably be of the most interest. His close friend and associate Marcello Dellutri was also recently convicted for having Mafia connections. In the last 10 minutes, Stille hurriedly recounts how Berlusconi’s government curbed prosecutorial powers, including the dismantling of Italy’s recently implemented witness protection program. Completed last year, the film does not mention Berlusconi’s recent electoral defeat or the 2006 arrest of Bernardo Provenzano, the boss of bosses, who had been on the run for 43 years. He was found in a small town outside of Corleone. In a recent interview, Stille said that while he was writing his book, a policeman told him Provenzano was hiding just outside of Corleone; if the authorities really wanted to find him, they could have. Kent Turner
July 12, 2006