Massacre in Rome
Richmond Hill

Review by Richmond Hill Patron

Massacre in Rome 1973

★★★½

Watched 29 Jul 2023

Somewhat in the Francesco Rosi manner of newsy reportage whilst squinting at the stylistics of The Conformist. That is, caught between two styles and two positions: moral tract or dramatic reconstruction. The punchy title indicates the direction of travel (the tasteless typography of the poster can be ignored).

To be fair the moral failure of The Vatican on the matter of the 10:1 execution of Italians in reprisal for Nazi soldier deaths is present, as is a degree of turpitude amongst the Germans in carrying out such an act. But these positions get skimmed over in the busyness of A to Z exposition. 

Richard Burton and Marcello Mastroianni crisply deliver, and the production itself doesn’t lack integrity, but it’s not enough. The posited notions of ‘lesser evils’ or being ‘a prisoner of history’ are wasted in preference to the logistics of compiling a list of victims and Leo McKern’s bombastic performance overseeing it [although the production went far enough to be sued for libel against the memory of Pope Pious XII].

For a better account see the 1977 BBC play by Jim Allen, A Choice of Evils, which distills matters to two-handed explorations of the morality and the politics (it’s in such moments the film occasionally catches fire).

Block or Report

Richmond Hill liked this review

' ].join(''); if ( adsScript && adsScript === 'bandsintown' && adsPlatforms && ((window.isIOS && adsPlatforms.indexOf("iOS") >= 0) || (window.isAndroid && adsPlatforms.indexOf("Android") >= 0)) && adsLocations && adsMode && ( (adsMode === 'include' && adsLocations.indexOf(window.adsLocation) >= 0) || (adsMode === 'exclude' && adsLocations.indexOf(window.adsLocation) == -1) ) ) { var opts = { artist: "", song: "", adunit_id: 100005950, div_id: "cf_async_67baef1f-8037-4eec-89fa-9668df8a691f" }; adUnit.id = opts.div_id; if (target) { target.insertAdjacentElement('beforeend', adUnit); } else { tag.insertAdjacentElement('afterend', adUnit); } var c=function(){cf.showAsyncAd(opts)};if(typeof window.cf !== 'undefined')c();else{cf_async=!0;var r=document.createElement("script"),s=document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0];r.async=!0;r.src="//srv.tunefindforfans.com/fruits/apricots.js";r.readyState?r.onreadystatechange=function(){if("loaded"==r.readyState||"complete"==r.readyState)r.onreadystatechange=null,c()}:r.onload=c;s.parentNode.insertBefore(r,s)}; } else { adUnit.id = 'pw-67baef1f-8037-4eec-89fa-9668df8a691f'; adUnit.className = 'pw-div -tile300x250 -alignleft -bottommargin'; adUnit.setAttribute('data-pw-' + (renderMobile ? 'mobi' : 'desk'), 'med_rect_btf'); if (target) { target.insertAdjacentElement('beforeend', adUnit); } else { tag.insertAdjacentElement('afterend', adUnit); } window.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', (event) => { adUnit.insertAdjacentHTML('afterend', kicker); window.ramp.que.push(function () { window.ramp.addTag('pw-67baef1f-8037-4eec-89fa-9668df8a691f'); }); }, { once: true }); } } tag.remove(); })(document.getElementById('script-67baef1f-8037-4eec-89fa-9668df8a691f'));
' ].join(''); if ( adsScript && adsScript === 'bandsintown' && adsPlatforms && ((window.isIOS && adsPlatforms.indexOf("iOS") >= 0) || (window.isAndroid && adsPlatforms.indexOf("Android") >= 0)) && adsLocations && adsMode && ( (adsMode === 'include' && adsLocations.indexOf(window.adsLocation) >= 0) || (adsMode === 'exclude' && adsLocations.indexOf(window.adsLocation) == -1) ) ) { var opts = { artist: "", song: "", adunit_id: 100005950, div_id: "cf_async_48a89299-6253-42b8-9894-e234d5b9d22e" }; adUnit.id = opts.div_id; if (target) { target.insertAdjacentElement('beforeend', adUnit); } else { tag.insertAdjacentElement('afterend', adUnit); } var c=function(){cf.showAsyncAd(opts)};if(typeof window.cf !== 'undefined')c();else{cf_async=!0;var r=document.createElement("script"),s=document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0];r.async=!0;r.src="//srv.tunefindforfans.com/fruits/apricots.js";r.readyState?r.onreadystatechange=function(){if("loaded"==r.readyState||"complete"==r.readyState)r.onreadystatechange=null,c()}:r.onload=c;s.parentNode.insertBefore(r,s)}; } else { adUnit.id = 'pw-48a89299-6253-42b8-9894-e234d5b9d22e'; adUnit.className = 'pw-div'; adUnit.setAttribute('data-pw-' + (renderMobile ? 'mobi' : 'desk'), 'sky_btf'); if (target) { target.insertAdjacentElement('beforeend', adUnit); } else { tag.insertAdjacentElement('afterend', adUnit); } window.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', (event) => { adUnit.insertAdjacentHTML('afterend', kicker); window.ramp.que.push(function () { window.ramp.addTag('pw-48a89299-6253-42b8-9894-e234d5b9d22e'); }); }, { once: true }); } } tag.remove(); })(document.getElementById('script-48a89299-6253-42b8-9894-e234d5b9d22e'));