Il prefetto di ferro

In the 1920s, the Calabrian mafia opposed Mussolini's rise to power. That's why, in 1925, Cesare Mori (Giuliano Gemma), known as the "Iron Prefect," was sent to Sicily to impose peace and order, as well as to eliminate, as far as possible, the mafia who ruled the island through violent means. Cesare Mori, known for his iron-fisted methods, wages a single-handed war against the mafia in fascist Sicily.

It's a decent film dominated by drama and violence, while simultaneously depicting Sicilian customs and being effectively filmed in Calabrian lands. Based on the true story of Cesare Mori, a man whose attacks on organized crime led him to move to the United States and then back to Sicily after the end of World War II. He arrested and convicted thousands of criminals before being appointed senator. Some say it was because he pursued high-ranking government officials, and they needed him to leave the city before they were implicated. And adding some historical facts: Fascism began a campaign against the Sicilian mafia immediately after Benito Mussolini's first visit to Sicily in May 1924. On June 2 of the same year, Cesare Mori was sent to Sicily, first as Prefect of Trapani, then to Palermo from October 22, 1925, nicknamed the Iron Prefect, with the task of eradicating the mafia by any means necessary. Mori's actions were harsh. Hundreds of men were arrested and eventually sentenced. The Siege of Gangi is famous, in which Mori besieged the city center for four months, as it was considered one of the Mafia's strongholds. During this period, boss Vito Cascio Ferro was arrested. After several sensational arrests of Mafia bosses, even the leaders of Cosa Nostra no longer felt safe and chose two ways to save themselves: some emigrated to the United States, joining the ranks of the American Cosa Nostra, while others remained on the sidelines. The "iron prefect" also discovered connections with leading fascist figures such as Alfredo Cucco.

Professionally directed by Pasquale Squitieri, who wrote the film with Arrigo Petacco and Ugo Pirro, this feature features a fine performance by Giuliano Gemma, the participation of the director's wife, Claudia Cardinale, and a great soundtrack by the always wonderful Ennio Morricone. Along with the two main actors, Giuliano Gemma and Claudia Cardinale, there are some supporting performances by familiar actors from Italian B-movies of the 1960s and 1970s (Peplum, Spaghetti Western, Giallo, etc.), such as Rik Battaglia, Franco Fantasia, Paul Muller, Stefano Satta Flores, Lina Sastri, Enzo Fiermonte, and a special appearance by the Spanish Francisco Rabal, who was working extensively in Italian cinema at the time, here playing an old and powerful mobster on his last legs.

The film was reasonably well directed by Pasquale Squitieri, who sometimes used the pseudonym William Redford, but the narration has some flaws. Pasquale was the longtime partner of actress Claudia Cardinale, who often starred in his films, and is the father of her daughter Claudia. He is a writer and director, best known for Atto Di Dolore (1990), Russicum (1988), and Mussolini's Lover (1984). He also made two westerns titled Django (1970) and Sartana (as William Redford) and Revenge is a Dish Best Served Cold and wrote/directed many films dealing with the Italian Mafia such as Russicum (1988), "Il Pentito" (The Repentant) (1985), L'arma (1978), Corleone (1978), Il Prefetto di Ferro (Il Prefetto di Ferro) (1977), The Climber (1975), I Guappi (1974), Camorra (1972); many of them starring his wife Claudia Cardinale and the notorious spaghetti actor Giuliano Gemma. Il prefetto di ferro, Italy (1977) score: 6.5/10.

This is not a movie depicting the new Italian kingdom in the 19th century , it`s an absolutely true story about the struggle against the Sicilian Mafia. In 1925 Mussolini, who came to power 3 years ago, sent Cesare Mori/1872-1942/ to Sicily, as a police prefect, with the task of whiping the Mafia out.The Fascist regime was concerned about its power and influence, so the following 4 years entered the history as the time of the "Iron Prefect", who arrested and convicted over 2 000 mafiosi. His brave struggle ended in 1929, when he was dismissed and appointed senator in Rome, mainly because he attacked high-ranking Fascist officials, who were deeply involved with the Mafia. They proved to be too powerful to struggle against and Mori lost the war after winning so many battles /including the conviction of don Vito Cascio Ferro, the first known Capo di tutti Cappi/

"Il prefetto di ferro" is a very good political drama, set in Sicily, significantly madre in the 1970s, a decade in which Italy was going through sociopolitical and economic crisis, that affected the national film industry. It tells the story of a prefect sent by the Fascist regime to fight the maffia and corruption. Based on true facts, Giuliano Gemma, who we had previously seen in peplums and European westerns, took the part of Cesare Mori and gave the performance of his life, with strong support from Claudia Cardinale and Stefano Satta Flores. Gemma won the Best Actor award at the Moscow Film Festival and the highly plausible work by director Pasquale Squattieri received the David di Donatello Award for Best Film of the Year.

As I have already said and I will continue to say, again and again, who, better than Italians, can speak, about Mafia? Who? As for WW2 in Europe - not the Pacific , who better than the Germans can speak about it? In the most accurate, authentic, realistic way I mean? And who besides Pasquale Squietieri, Damiano Damiani and Francesco Rosi, are able to show how Mafia actually worked, inflitrated the Italian society, contaminated it. No one, except those three, were able to do it. Other Italian flicks belonging to the polizziotesco genre were not mafia movies, because too violent, too superficial, with far too much gratuitous violence, too much bloody and misogynistic lines. Not enough credible for me, because destined to saturday evenings audiences, not intellectual. But directors of such movies, polizziotesco such as Fernando Di Leo or Enzo Castellari, were great directors, very efficient, but only in their own genre, not the pure Mafia one. So this one, I comment now, is a pure masterpiece, it tells a very unusual story about Mafia in Italy history, and the decision that Mussolini made to eradicate the Octopuss once and for all. This is an awesome film, powerful, gritty, with terrific scenes such as this one where a Mafia leader smashes his own skull on his cell wall, to be sure not to talk to the police. Outstanding sequence that summarizes the whote film.

It's difficult to find this movie but it's the only one that talk about the fight of the new italian kingdom against the "briganti" (street criminals) at the end of 19° century.

Pasquale Squitieri used a little ancient town to realize a very difficult movie about a strange period of italian history.