Imagine an Italian Mafia saga – replete with intrigue, shifting alliances, backstabbing, and violent and bloody retributions -- and then set it all in the historically true world of contemporary Italian politics and you’ll get Il Divo, the Jury Award Winner at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival

Truth be told, this writer was a little apprehensive about even seeing this film, fearful that one’s lack of knowledge of Italian politics (where prime ministers seems to change with the seasons) would lesson the film’s impact. All those fears were dashed as director Paolo Sorrentino –- in brilliant fashion -- plunges the viewer head-on into the chaotic and brutal world of Giulio Andreotti, seven-time Prime Minister, lifetime senator and the epicenter of power in Italy for decades. With a stiff body and a puffy face with an almost perpetually pained look, Andreotti (in an amazing performance by Servillo) makes for an enigmatic figure. Expressionless, almost benign, he may not fit the image of a ruthless power-hungry Don, and that’s what makes the story all the more fascinating. Most of the action takes place in the early 1990s when, in his seventh term as PM, he is accused of collusion with the Mafia and put on trial. Revolving around Andreotti are a vivid array of corrupted characters -– from politics, business, the crime world and the Vatican. Visually wild and possessing a witty, arched sense of humor, director Sorrentino has made a masterpiece based on one man’s lifelong pursuit of power. (Italian with English subtitles) -- Raymond Murray