"Hands over the City" is a compelling look at municipal corruption in Naples that states that while this is an imagined story, the circumstances are very real. The movie starts with a building collapse that claims two lives.(And I am left wondering how they got that shot in the first place.) In the city council
chambers, De Vita(Carlo Fermariello), the leader of the left, calls for an investigation into the accident but is blocked. So, he takes a different tack by investigating the procedures for approving building permits. What they find is not pretty. All roads lead to Edoardo Nottola(Rod Steiger), an ambitious property developer, and crooked as they come. But he is not alone. The others are just better at hiding.
For example, one official mentions an approval took three days when it usually takes six to twelve months. His colleague marvels at the efficiency. But the point of democracy is to slow things down enough so that nobody does anything hasty and will regret. Democracy is also about serving the public which the center-right coalition in the film seeks to subvert by taking power for the sake of it and of course the money to be made. At least, the left has the people's interests at heart.
October 13, 2010
