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If
you're expecting a poliziotteschi replete with brutal
thugs, car chases and wild shoot-outs, best forget it. How
To Kill a Judge
is a political drama about Mafia influence in the Sicilian legal
system and how the public and media perceive that corruption.
Dialog driven, with a strong emphasis on character, there isn't
a single action sequence in the entire film. There is no gore,
nor are there any hookers, mob molls or kidnapped damsels taking
off their clothes. Director Damiano Damiani (Confessions
of a Police Captain) takes a completely serious, exploitation-free
approach to his subject matter — a commendable choice, of course,
but here resulting in a film not particularly accessible to
international audiences.
The
great Italian star Franco Nero plays Giacomo Solaris, a famous
investigative journalist who also makes theatrical films —
not documentaries, but stylized, fictional thrillers loosely
based on actual people and events. (This seems rather odd...
Imagine Geraldo Rivera directing The Parallax
View. Perhaps it's not so unusual in Italy; I wouldn't
know.) Solaris' latest film, set to open in theaters, is about
a Sicilian judge on the Mafia payroll and the murder of a stoolie
who could implicate him in the assassination of some honest
cops. The film is brought to the attention of Magistrate Traini
(Marco Guglielmi), the real-life judge upon whom Solaris based
his speculative screenplay. An outraged aide arranges for Traini
to screen the film before its release, advising his boss to
file defamation charges against the muckraking director. However,
Traini is amused by the film rather than angered, even when
his 'character' is gunned down by a Mob hitman just before the
end credits roll. Traini's aide is frustrated by this reaction;
were the judge to press charges then the film would be confiscated
and Solaris could possibly face jail time for slandering a government
official. But Traini demurs. Instead, in a surprise move he
invites Solaris to a posh dinner party at his home. It seems
the magistrate isn't actually all that tickled by his fictionalized
portrayal; his 'amusement' was for the benefit of his excitable
assistant. During a private moment with Solaris in his study,
Traini sounds out the filmmaker. Appeals to respect the institution
of the judiciary fall on deaf ears as Solaris declares his unswerving
dedication to the truth. He fully believes Traini to be crooked
and even welcomes being indicted, since the resulting scandal
will only spread the message further even if his film is banned.
For the moment Traini decides to hold off on pressing charges,
tearing up the paperwork.
Whether or not the
judge ever intended to use the law against Solaris is soon moot,
for the next day Traini is found shot to death in his car. Who
murdered him, and why? Did the thinly-veiled insinuations contained
in Solaris' film get him killed? Suspicion naturally falls on
the Mafia, especially a gang boss currently in hiding. Traini's
socialite widow Antonia (Françoise Fabian) blames a lowly
parking lot attendant she claims threatened her husband for
getting him fired. Solaris believes that Signora Traini
is accusing an innocent man at the behest of the Mob. His friend
and informant in the Mafia insists that, despite how things
may look, organized crime didn't have anything to do with the
slaying. Warned by the police and the Mob to simply drop it
and leave Sicily, Solaris becomes obsessed with finding out
why Traini was killed.
"Why" is the operative
word here despite the film's English title —
the how being completely irrelevant. (In Italian it's
called Perché Si Uccide Un Magistrato?, "Why Does One
Kill A Magistrate?") Set up as a mystery, the film follows Solaris
as he operates in a very gray world to find black and white
answers. He's no idealist or crusader, however, warily rubbing
shoulders with politicians, criminals and cops in his quest
for the truth. But is that what he really wants? If Traini was
rubbed out to forestall a political scandal sparked by his film,
does that mean the judge's blood is also on his hands?
On its face this sounds
like a potentially intriguing scenario. Unfortunately, How
To Kill a Judge never
really drew this viewer in despite its laudable elements. Capably
helmed in a low key, non-sensationalistic style, with an intelligent
script and excellent performance by Nero (who's well-supported
by a uniformly solid cast), the film nonetheless suffers from
inertia. It's a mystery, yes, but not a thriller. Suspense is
nil since the protagonist, Solaris, is never in any real danger
at any time; the worst thing he faces is a slander trial and
the confiscation of his film. As stated earlier, there are no
action sequences. Nero never once punches anybody out, gets
chased, or has to pick up a gun. Violence, too, is kept to a
bare minimum, with only two onscreen deaths, one of them by
poison. The all-important murder around which the story resolves,
the killing of Traini, takes place offscreen.
In going this route,
director Damiani deliberately turns notions of what one typically
expects from a '70s Italian crime drama upside down... Indeed,
that expectations and common perceptions can fail to match reality
is a central theme of How
To Kill a Judge. Too
bad that theme is buried in a talky, mostly uninvolving film
that comes perilously close to being downright dull. Before
the first half-hour is out I think most hardcore poliziotteschi
fans will be praying for Maurizio Merli or Henry Silva to suddenly
show up and start blasting with a Beretta SMG on full-auto.
Ain't gonna happen.
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