Slap the Monster on Page One

Slap the Monster on Page One

1972. Italy/France. Directed by Marco Bellocchio. Screenplay by Sergio Donati. With Gian Maria Volonté, Fabio Garriba, Laura Betti. Blending footage of real demonstrations with newly shot sequences, the film opens with a bang as a right wing newspaper’s headquarters are attacked by anarchists. Presaging today’s international newspaper scandals, this scathing satire of the power alliances and manipulations of the news-gathering ilk is fast-paced and often funny. The film’s narrative demonstrates how political strategy determines every inch of coverage—and once again that sex sells news. Clearly enamored by the newspaper milieu, the film’s news-czar, played by the formidable Volonté, proudly prances around his kingdom and thinks nothing of ruining or building fake reputations around any dead or living creature that comes into his orbit—all while he himself is manipulated by the money men behind the scenes. I Italian; English subtitles. 90 min.