Reality TV was a mistake and this Italian satire called it forty years early.
Two convicts escape from prison and evade the law by taking hostage the middle-class family of a doctor. One of the jailbirds calls the local television station, requesting that they broadcast his demand for a plane so they can escape the country. The television director and his crew show up to film the hostage crisis, and then things get progressively more bizarre and satirical. Not content with the living drama, he directs everyone's actions to make the event more newsworthy.
Direction
Laudadio's camera becomes complicit in the spectacle.
Acting
Franco Nero turns desperation into dark showmanship.
Writing
Script predicts our entire attention economy.
Director
Francesco Laudadio
Franco Nero
Nicola Fanelli
Gabriele Ferzetti
Alberto
Omero Antonutti
Enrico
Cristina Sánchez Pascual
Lola
Eros Pagni
Galli
Sandra Milo
Vittoria
Franco Javarone
Pasquale
Renato Cecchetto
Caputo
Annabella Schiavone
Lunetta Savino
Elena
Christian De Sica
Stella
Claudio Cassinelli
Commissario
Donatella Damiani
Graziano Giusti
Marina Confalone
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Released during Italy's Years of Lead, when terrorism and media spectacle were already colliding on live television.
The director character's name, Alberto, may nod to Alberto Sordi—Laudadio's way of claiming lineage with Italian comedic tradition.
IT
