Angelo Infanti

While pursuing a story in Mogadishu, Somalia, in 1994, Italian investigative reporter Ilaria Alpi and her cameraman Miran Hrovatin were brutally murdered for uncovering what was later discovered to be one of the largest governmental corruption scandals in European history. Director Ferdinando Vincentini Orgnani retells the journalists' final month prior to their murder in his 2003 drama Ilaria Alpi: Il Più Crudele Dei Giorni (The Cruelest Day). The younger and more career-driven Alpi (portrayed by Giovanna Mezzogiorno) has been incessantly investigating the money that Italian humanitarian organizations have been donating to Third World countries under the auspices of building roads and generally improving the beneficiary countries' infrastructure. Meeting Hrovatin (Rade Sherbedgia) after beginning her investigation, the two uncover the shocking truth: These "humanitarian organizations" are actually fronts for secret Italian governmental agencies who are shipping tons of toxic waste to these countries for surreptitious disposal. Just as Alpi and Hrovatin begin to dig deeper into their story, they are ambushed and killed -- but not before the truth had been revealed to an unsuspecting European populace. Ilaria Alpi: Il Più Crudele Dei Giorni was selected for inclusion into the 2003 Montreal World Film Festival. ~ Ryan Shriver, All Movie Guide

Ratings wars on nightly news and lovers quarrels are parodied in this French comedy. The people behind the TV8 news are obsessed with getting good ratings. After their anchor suffers a debilitating accident, Gerard Breha is called to replace him. Breha, a minor market newscaster was chosen because he possesses the kind of face deemed most trustworthy by the French public. Sure enough his ratings soar. He interviews a politician about the YAM gang who have been terrorizing local gun shops. Corine, Breha's wife is getting frustrated as his popularity has caused him to be increasingly away from home. Soon the newscaster is seduced by his predatory producer Marie-Ange. Corine is out for revenge. She gets it when she and Breha appear on the French version of "Truth or Consequences." The show is suddenly interrupted by the YAM gang as they burst into the studio and begin taking hostages. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Stars and famous locations abound in this multinational production, a would-be "financial thriller" about swindles and betrayals among jet-set gazillionaires, which takes place in glamor spots all over the globe. Somebody has stolen millions of dollars from his father, and Frank Cimballi (Eric Stoltz) means to find out who. To that end, he enlists the help of a variety of people, including a man (Mario Adorf) who is wealthy in his own right, and a French private eye (Bruno Cremer) who appears to have read too many American detective novels. The bad guys seem to have Nazi connections, which adds spice to the chase, but reviewers discounted this movie, based on a best-selling French novel, for its slapdash storytelling. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Filmed in Italy, The Inquiry uses the Bible as a launching pad for speculative fiction. Shortly after the Crucifixion, Roman investigator Titus Valerius Taurus (Keith Carradine) is dispatched to the Holy Land. His mission: to find out who removed the body of Jesus Christ. Carradine is hampered in his investigation by governor Pontius Pilate (Harvey Keitel), who is anxious to keep the details of Jesus' last moments on Calvary from becoming public knowledge. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Set during World War II, The Assisi Underground deals with the efforts made by a handful of hardy European souls to rescue Jews from the Holocaust. Ben Cross plays a dynamic young Catholic priest who puts his own life on the line to save thousands of refugees from Nazi-occupied Italy. While the role of the Vatican in the war is still a matter of hot debate, there can be no denying that individuals like Cross existed: in fact, virtually every event depicted in this film is based on an actual event. Featured in the all-star cast are James Mason, Irene Papas, and Maximillian Schell. When originally released, Assissi Underground clocked in at 178 minutes, resulting in a well-intentioned but frankly boring wartime epic. The producers whittled the running time down to 118 minutes for its general release. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This sometimes confusing erotic drama about the incestuous relationship of a mother and daughter is based on the autobiography of Italian theater actress Piera Degli Esposti though it focuses more on her mother Eugenia (Hanna Schygulla). The liberated Eugenia and her spaced-out, husband (Marcello Mastroianni) -- a professor -- live in a small provincial Italian town, where Eugenia is noticed as she zooms around on her bicycle and chats up strangers at the train station. While still no more than a grown child, Piera -- in tight dresses -- goes with her mother for a threesome when she engages in sexual relations with other men and subsequently suffers both from poor health and the lack of a normal home. The shadow of the future already clouds the household when Eugenia is committed again and again to the psychiatric clinic. By the time Piera has become an adult, both of her parents are in separate mental hospitals -- and both (even the father) are still sexually eccentric, to say the least. (Hanna Schygulla) won the "Best Actress" award at the 1983 Cannes Film Festival for her portrayal of Eugenia. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Two men (Alberto Sordi and Carlo Verdone) representing two different generations of Italian comics team up to present a swinging father (Sordi) and naïve son (Verdone) on a trip to a seaside haven where the father's mistress awaits. The first stop on their itinerary is the mother's house, shared by her "significant other," a television scriptwriter. Continuing on through gorgeous seaside vistas and several minor adventures, the mismatched father-son pair finally reach the mistress's house. At that point, the father has just about given up trying to teach his innocent son about sex because he seems hopelessly disinterested -- or so it seems. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

The stage comedian Carlo Verdone directed and stars as the three main characters -- Furio, Mimmo, and Pasquale -- in this classic Italian comedy. All three men are driving back to their hometowns to vote on election day, and each has a different story and a different though easily recognizable personality type. Furio drives his wife nuts with his unceasing chatter -- in a switch of gender stereotypes -- and is obsessed with perfection. When his car gets a flat, he dashes off to phone the Automobile Club for help, but then finds that in his brief absence his tire has already been changed by a generous motorist. Perfectionist to the letter, he takes off the good tire and replaces it with the flat one so the Automobile Club will get the flat they expect. Mimmo is a Mama's boy from Trastevere who rides along with his oversized Grandmama, and the third character, Pasquale, suffers from socialization never succeeded in taking firm hold. As he re-enters Italy, driving back from Munich where he now lives, parts of his car get stolen one by one. The moral seems to be that Italy is filled with all types of people, from those who will replace your tire to those who walk off with it. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

In this crime drama a safe cracker comes out of retirement to pull off one last caper. The Germans behind the theft are planning to steal $1 million; unbeknownst to the safe cracker, they are also planning to kill him afterward. As soon as he finds out, he begins plotting his revenge. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Richard Chamberlain stars in this lavishly appointed adaptation of the classic Alexandre Dumas adventure story. When Count Edmond Dantes (Richard Chamberlain) is stripped of his wealth and sent to prison for crimes he did not commit, he swears to get revenge against those who wronged him. With the help of Abbe (Trevor Howard), a fellow prisoner, the Count escapes and sets forth to see that justice is done. The supporting cast includes Tony Curtis as Mondego, Louis Jourdan as De Villefort, and Donald Pleasance as Danglars. This seventh of eight film versions of The Count of Monte Cristo was produced for American television but received a theatrical release in Europe. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Claude Lelouch's romantic drama Toute une Vie chronicles three different love affairs over three generations during the 20th century. Marthe Keller and Charles Denner portray different members of the families in each of the generations. The stories involve a cameraman's son who suffers and survives internment in a concentration camp in World War II, and his daughter, who marries a man who begins adulthood as an ex-convict and a scoundrel but gradually matures and becomes a well-respected filmmaker living in New York. Each section of the film utilizes a style of filmmaking that is associated with the time period being portrayed. Lelouch earned an Academy Award nomination (along with co-screenwriter Pierre Uytterhoeven) for his screenplay in 1975. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

Written and directed by Italian filmmaker Alberto Bevilacqua, Questa Specie D'Amore (This Kind of Love) illustrates the difficulties one runs into when one attempts detached intellectualism. Ugo Tognazzi plays the son of a 1930s-era anti-fascist (also played by Tognazzi) who had suffered mightily for his beliefs. Wishing to cut himself off from all feelings and compassion lest he be tormented in the same manner as his father, Tognazzi rushes into a marriage with the spoiled daughter (Jean Seberg) of a wealthy nobleman. The misery attending this mismatch leads Tognazzi to desert his sheltered new lifestyle and return to his father's home town. Throughout the film, flashbacks are used to show the events that led Tognazzi into building huge walls around his true feelings. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This crime action movie is based on Peter Maas' best-selling book The Valachi Papers. That book, in turn, is based on prison conversations and the actual U.S. Senate testimony of Joseph Valachi, a high-ranking figure in the Mafia. The book, which tells precisely who did what to whom, when and why, electrified the nation. This film had to be made in Italy, because attempts to shoot in the U.S. were stymied by mob-arranged "accidents" and protests. The story is told in flashback as Valachi (Charles Bronson) tells a Federal agent about his activities from 1929 to 1961, when he worked for the Capo of Capos, Vito Genovese (Lino Ventura). Though his tale necessarily takes place in a number of episodes, it never fails to have lots of drama and action. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide