La piovra

La Piovra is simply the best film about the mob. I'm very sad, that only the seasons 1-7 had been shown in German TV. I can't understand, that there is no way to buy it on DVD or on VHS. The series was a big success and I know a lot of people who have watched every repeat of the seasons 1-7, like myself. Only the 6. Season is a little worse than the other ones. The pace is fantastic, even it is a TV-series. The cast and acting is great. Not only fantastic Italian actors had been casted, but a lot of great European actors join the series too, like Bruno Craemer, Rolf Hoppe, Mario Adorf. Now, in 2005 in Germany the first three seasons a released on DVD (German dubbed and Italian) and, as I read in the net, they startet on DVD in Portugal, France and Sweden. In the Netherlands you got the first four seasons in Italian with dutch subtitels. I hope, that this will bring more people to the series.

La Piovra, or SPRUT in Russian, the version that I saw as a boy in early nineties is nothing short of a masterpiece. American audiences are all over the Sopranos, a good series in its own right, but that is because they did not experience La Piovra.

The story of the series at first follows Commissar Cattani and his relentless fight against the Italian mafia and the corrupt bureaucracy. Every episode is full of smart dialogs, rich characters, suspenseful plot,and action. The newer episodes follow the work of a new commissar (I don't want to give away why this happens, watch it and you will see), who just like his predecessor selflessly fights the mob.

The series is mostly shot in Italy and later on in Czech Republic I believe, so scenery does change.

Fortunately for me the local Los Angeles Armenian mom and pop video stores carry the Russian language VHS tapes of the complete series as it was shown in the early nineties, all I need now is a summer holiday to re watch the whole series, it is absolutely worth it.

I saw the series on DVD; there are 4 series with the terrific Michele Placido in the lead as solitary and stubborn police inspector Corrado Cattani, who is determined to conquer the evil elements in Italy.

To start with, it's interesting to see the dramatic quality increase of the production. In the first series the sound and image quality is terrible, yet in the fourth everything seems to be at a higher level. More attention was paid to the cinematography, it looks more professional and there are more dramatic "tricks" than in the previous series. Even the actresses look more beautiful! Patricia Millardet plays the mature and strong judge Silvia Conti to work aside Cattani while Simona Cavallari plays the juvenile Esther Rasi who idolizes Cattani) Next to being a thriller, La Piovra is also convincing as a study of organised crime in Italy. The characters are well developed and the acting is fantastic. The basic plot line: inspector Cattani's eternal conflict of interests between his family life and his professional life, which sometimes leads to very dramatic scenes. He loves his family yet his urge to combat organised crime in his beloved country is equally strong. At various points he is "accused" of being a moralist. Actually he is one of the few that dares to makes a fist against the bunch of opportunists who seem to have infiltrated Italy's political and economic system at all possible levels... The tormented inspector fights different enemies; my favourite one is Tano Carridi (4th series, very well played by Remo Girone). He displays a great mix of villainy and sadness that almost makes you symphatise with him. A worthy opponent of Cattani! The great music by Ennio Morricone in the series also adds a lot to the atmosphere! I highly recommend this series.

First of all, this series has the best music ever seen in film. Ennio Morricone in my mind has the stature of a Beethoven or Bach or Wagner.. really he's that good, and his music will last that long.

Now that this is out of the way .. to have a series that lives up to Ennio's music is really a miracle.

If you think about it, TV has always been a "second hand" medium when it comes to quality. Well, as TV series go .. this doesn't feel like a TV series.

Even if it's long, and the whole series has two or three arcs over 7 seasons, it's not diluted at all. It's focused from beginning to end so you only grow more attached to the characters, you invest more and more emotion in it. It's like the best tragic movie you can think of, tweaked at 75% intensity, but with incredible peaks of emotion, and keyed to the most beautiful music on earth.

Think about the countless hours you've spent watching garbage in front of the TV, and try to get this series and watch it, as revenge. :)

I can't see anything better being made on TV.

I consider "La Piovra" as a movie (despite of being it TV-series) equal to such masterpieces as "Godfather" by Copolla or "Once Upon A Time in America" by Leone. It seems that only italians may create really impressive and realistic movies about mafia. There must be something in the blood ;-)

If you are looking for the intelligent script, impressive pace and atmosphere, real characters from the blood and flesh, perfect acting - you will like "La Piovra". There is not much action but there is a lot of life. And death.