Many would say that “what comes around goes around” certainly applies if you happen to be Silvio Berlusconi. As of late, the power hungry, media mogul and prime minister (he has returned to the same seat in three separate occasions) is having his private life go public, received a bloody nose, and chipped teeth last week and hasn’t been fortunate on the film fest circuit either. In February we’ll get a full exposé on how Berlusconi has “added” to Italian culture with Lorber Films picking up the rights to Erik Gandini’s doc Videocracy – a film that was among the favorites from film critics who attended TIFF and Venice. I managed to miss the doc, so I’m primed for the February 12th release at the IFC Center in New York.
The film argues that Italy no longer places value in people who aspire to reason and the challenges of the modern day. Women want to be voiceless showgirls on talent shows and marry footballers (soccer players). Recent prostitution and marital scandals, which have received a fair amount of airtime in other European countries as well as America, do not get broadcast on Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s networks or the other public networks that he also controls as head of the government. “Videocracy” spotlights a cult of celebrity worship and TV junkies that, the director believes, has literally hypnotized Italian society to the detriment of public well-being, societal problems, and even democracy itself.
