Wednesday, September 20, 2017

'Long Live Freedom' DVD: Patty Duke Show Style Farce on Italian Politics


The Icarus Films September 26, 2017 DVD release of the 2013 Italian policom Long Live Freedom (nee "Viva la Liberta") provides additional hope that this New York based distributor of "innovative and provocative" documentaries will continue increasing its catalog of equally stimulating fictional  European films to a level that equals the documentary catalog.

This tale of an Italian senator/opposition party secretary under siege having his twin brother with "issues" of his own is a fantabulous mash-up of "The Patty Duke Show" and the Peter Sellers movie "Being There" in which the wisdom of the fool whom Sellers plays makes him a respected adviser. On a broader level, the absurd view of the inner workings of national politics evokes strong feelings of the Emmy-laden Julia Louis Dreyfus sitcom "Veep."

The accolades this time are especially well-deserved and plentiful. They include a 2015 CinEuphoria Top 10 of the Year award for writer/director Roberto Ando and a 2103 Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists award for the screenplay of the film. The cases in which "Freedom" is nominated is cause more to assert "they waz robbed" than that it is a honor to be nominated.

The following YouTube clip of the theatrical trailer for "Freedom" highlights the Italian charm of this delightfully quirky film. It further reinforces that the movie could be made word-for-word and shot-for-shot in the United States and still make sense.


Italian film royalty Toni Servillo outdoes himself in his dual roles of Sen. Emrico Oliveri and Oliveri identical twin Giovanni Ernani. This performance begins in the opening scenes that show Oliveri initially tripping up his companions by stopping to tie his shoes en route to an obviously important event; this soon leads to a "you should have gone before we left the house" moment just before Oliveri is set to address the party loyalists whom he has let down.

This leads to Oliveri abruptly deciding to disappear for a while without providing even his close aides advance notice. The search for him leads to Ernani, who spontaneously and unexpectedly begins impersonating his brother. The twist is that this recent "guest" of a psychiatric institution does a better job than his brother. This largely relates to a talent for telling the press and the public alike what they want to hear. This culminates at a rally at which Ernani directly addresses a seemingly random audience member and accurately expresses the hopes and dreams of that Millennial.

The bigger picture is that Ernani effectively takes the controls of a party that is about to crash and burn in an upcoming election and thrusts it back to what may be new highs. In other words, the opposition no longer merely is "not the other guy."

Meanwhile, Oliveri is hiding out in the French home of his former girlfriend, her well-known film director husband, and their young daughter. Although remaining incognito requires not venturing out, Oliveri slowly increases his outside activity as he proportionately involves himself in the lives of his hosts. He further gets several reminders of the joys of a private life free from the intense scrutiny and related pressure of being a prominent politician. This includes a taste of what might have been for him.

A scene in which Ernani (posing as Oliveri) meets with the president of the Republic both is the most important in the film and the most wonderfully bizarre. An aide understandably is nervous that the president will discover the ruse, the president knows that Oliveri is much different than the man whom he knows, and Ernani reverts to his true nature in an incredibly entertaining manner that showcases the versatility of Servillo.

Ando does not disappoint regarding the ending of the film; everyone is a little wiser than he or she is at the beginning and ends up where he or she belongs. Meanwhile, the general populace remains blissfully unaware regarding the extent to which the power brokers deceive them.

Anyone with questions or comments regarding "Freedom" is strongly encouraged either to email me or to connect on Twitter via @tvdvdguy.








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