More realism from Damiano Damiani which means no car chases and only slight violence. Plus the film is too damn long! Nearly two hours of drama. On the plus side, it's a film in an exploitation genre that is about a film itself being exploited for political purposes. Let's plunge into the plot for several paragraphs, after which I'm going to expose my balls.
In Palermo, Franco Nero is a journalist/filmmaker type who believes the best way to get to the people is through the medium of film, and therefore he has just released a very political (and arty) film about a corrupt magistrate who is eventually killed for his crimes. Nero's film is gathering a huge amount of attention, but the actual magistrate who seems to be the target of the film isn't too happy, and neither is his wife. It's through Nero's eyes that we're introduced to the complicated tier system of the justice side of Sicily, and lo and behold it does seems a crooked as a Curly Wurly that's been forgotten in the trousers of a child on a sunny day.
Nero's only true friend (besides the political left-wing journalists and that woman he's bumping uglies with) is mafia guy Renzo Palmer, who seems genuinely to like Nero, but then again when he gives Nero a lift to the airport, it's rather iffy that at that exact moment the actual magistrate gets the old bullet to the head in a car park. This sends the whole society of Palermo into a frenzy, as the proles think that Nero's film has influenced someone to take the law into their own hands, and everyone in the justice system starts turning on each other and blaming each other for the murder...
This takes Nero on a very long journey to find out who actually killed the judge or whatever he was, and on the way he gains new friends and burns bridges with old ones. This is a Damiano film - it all plays out just like it could in real life and if you're familiar with his films, you won't be too surprised by the ending. It's also (yet again) a kind of murder mystery, so if you're mental you could call it a giallo too.
Due to the realism, a long time passes from the first murder to when other folk start getting bumped off, so it's just as well we've got some decent acting talent to keep us going. Of course, Nero does his usual emotional, passionate routine that I never tire off, but I'm also glad to say that yet again Renzo Palmer stands out as the cocky, yet honourable, Mafia guy who is Nero guardian angel. The relationship between the two seems almost genuine. I can't be bothered looking up the name of the magistrate's wife but she was good too.
All in all, it's a slow, long film displaying very little Eurocrime clichés, but it's also a welcome break from those clichés too!
