The kidnapping and killing of Aldo Moro, Italy´s former prime minister and head of the Christian Democrat party, was a cataclysmic event no Italian can forget. Moro was taken hostage by Red Brigade members in March 1978; almost two months elapsed while negotiations were pursued in vain. His bullet-riddled body was found on the ninth of May after a phone call alerted the authorities. A shocking crime had been committed and Italy teetered on the edge of political chaos. Marco Bellocchio turns to this troubled period of Italian history in GOOD MORNING, NIGHT, producing a film of immense complexity and devastating emotional power.
In GOOD MORNING, NIGHT, we watch as a young woman, Chiara, moves into a new apartment with her boyfriend. On the face of it, she lives an ordinary, routine existence, working in an office and keeping to herself. Her life, however, is a carefully constructed act, concealing her actual existence as a member of the extreme Italian terrorist group, Red Brigade. Specifically, she is a member of a cell that is meticulously planning the kidnapping of a prominent politician, in order that they can ‘try’ and execute him for his supposed crimes.
Following on from his critically acclaimed film MY MOTHER’S SMILE, Bellocchio here presents a superbly realized portrait of a character living in an extreme set of circumstances and struggling to decide whether the choices she is making are truly justified. At a time when terrorist cells and fundamentalism are proliferating around the world, this sensitive and thoughtful film explores the failure of radical ideology and presents an allegory for the death of the socialist dream which transcends its Italian context.
The consummate skill of the film-making, the quality of the performances and the intelligence of the script, confirm Bellocchio’s position as one of Italian cinema’s contemporary masters..