Hands Over the City

Hands Over the City

Hands Over the City

Moviecut—Hands Over the City

A political film about real estate growing, briberies and local government. A very good description of this moment of the history of Italy: very ambitious land developers managed to buy cheaply grounds and to get building licences very easily and all this with the complicity of the local government. A building collapses and then there is a plitical crisis. As some reviewers mention it, this story of real estate speculation and of corruption has happened in a lot of countries i the world. Very good performances of Rod Steiger,Salvo Randone, Guido Alberti ,Carlo Fermariello and Angelo d'Alessandro.

Highly charged with energy. That was Italy during the 50ies and 60ies. Rod Steiger channels all this energy into the ambitious bull-like Construction Magnate Nottola, surrounded by a power-cast of Italian actors and extras in what, to date, is the most starkly realistic fake documentary I have EVER set my eyes on! We are plunged into the situation from the word 'go', and Director Rosi musters up all his acumen, concentration, artistry and social x-ray vision... delivering a relentless 'Cinema di Denuncia' masterpiece unique in its kind. Rosi has helmed several near-masterpieces. 'SALVATORE GIULIANO', 'TRE FRATELLI', 'IL CASO MATTEI'... but as time goes by Cinema reveals the true, atemporal, masterpieces. This is one. It won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1963. No wonder. Salvo Randone shines, as usual, as the oily Town Mayor with Democristian Party afiliations and a wily way with words. Steiger is very convincing as an Italian man of power. The film is powerful in ALL fields. Perfect settings and interiors. Pristine, stylish but realistic black and white photography (with great Camerawork by Pasqualino DeSantis), vigorous, if somewhat too incisive, score. Hands on the City is a jewel of Italian cinema. It proves that superficial issues are not necessary to establish the backbone of the peninsular mainstream. That Italian films don't necessarily hinge on the charm of Mastroianni or the attributes of Loren, Cardinale or Ornella Muti. Hats off to Francesco Rosi and Co. THIS film is a worldwide gem!

Set in 1963 Naples, Hands Over the City is a serious depiction of the corruption, nepotism and social issues of post war reconstruction. Italy in the early 1960s was barely a developed nation. Like most European participants of World War Two, Italy was left devastated by six years of conflict ending in 1945. The movie's plot revolves around an investigation of a building collapse resulting in several fatalities. The story plays out in the backdrop of local elections which may affect vested political interests dole out land development contracts to cronies. By shedding light on back room political dealings, the film exposes the shortcomings of democracy in developing states. Additionally, the raw power of wealth in (literally) buying votes amongst a poor electorate (think India, etc.) is laid bare during the movie. In such a corrupt environment geared to enhancing the wealth and influence of existing power brokers it is not surprising ordinary people turned to Socialist and even Communist politics. Indeed, Italy's Communist and Socialist parties regularly won 33% or more of the popular vote until the 1980s. (Both parties were independent of policies emanating from Moscow.) Though one may criticize the movie's pace, the story unfolds well enough to watch. The characters are realistic with the black and white filming adding to the effect of watching a sordid drama unfolding in seedy, smoky backrooms. The cinematography, especially in the opening scenes of Naples cityscape, is excellent. Hands Over the City is a social statement film more than an entertainment piece.

The director Francesco Rosi don't mind over his political position from ultra-left, he made a movie, where he trying to expose the rotten side on political environment, all those prior agreements usually done on backstage, on movie has a city councilman who struggles against this bad behavior to conduct the public interest, without discuss properly by officials channels, all put it on the table, as exposed on the picture those facts took place in 1963 after almost than 60 years after little things changes in this matter worldwide speaking, maybe on Norway, Sweden, Canada, Finland and more few countries this behavior are no longer accepted, all remaining nations continues broadly with same way, maybe some worst, somehow an valuable picture which Rosi has a nerve to touch in the wounds where the politicians pretend that those facts didn't applying to them, actually a few commit those crimes, but certainly they have a clean hands...like in my country.....Brazil!!! Resume: First watch: 2019 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 8

The first quarter of an hour of this film is completely mesmerising as we see a series of overhead shots of the different sides to the city of Naples and then the incredibly shot building collapse. At the same time we are made aware of the corruption in the building industry and how most of the money ends up in the same place all the time. Rod Steiger plays the main villain of the peace and it is an extraordinary performance. For considerable periods we simply see him prancing about his office, clearly struggling to think of the best way out of the immediate problem, the best way to get more political power and the best way for him and his son to stay on top. he expresses so much, and in such an Italian way, the pressures his constant messing with peoples' lives brings him. There are many fine sequences as the various political factions gang up and then get bought off as the big man inevitably gets his way. I preferred the slightly more fictionalised and later Three Brothers and Illustrious Corpses but this near documentary impression of Italy's boom building phase is very impressive and involving.

Rod Steiger as a local city politician in an Italian film by Francesco Rosi makes a virtuoso performance as usual in his younger days and is convincing enough in fluent Italian in one of Francesco Rosi's usual almost documentary panoramic exposures of social life especially in relation with power. Everything appears absolutely natural here, as if you were yourself present at all those turbulernt political meetings with votations and intrigues around the mayor, and the crisis is brought on by a collapsing building of many storeys and flats owned by local leaders of the city government, who choose to fight it out against allegations of corruption, and the council scenes with dramatic quarrels Italian style pounding on in heated passion are the best of the film. It happens in Naples, but the situation could be anywhere in any great city in the world planning to exploit and make money on new suburb constructions of horrible inhuman skyscrapers all looking the same - with new prospects of coming tumbling down.

Francesco Rosi's movie "Le mani sulla città" ("Hands Over the City" in English) is about a developer (Rod Steiger) whose building collapses, leading to political fallout. While it looks like a simple story of corruption in Naples, it could be anywhere on earth. Any time that someone skimps on something, the people are going to suffer. People who insist that there should be no government involvement in anything don't realize (or refuse to realize) that they might be the ones suffering. If the movie has any downside, it's that we don't get to hear much from the people who suffered from the collapsed building. After the collapse, there are some scenes of protests, but most of the movie looks at the inner workings of the city government and how accusations fly in all directions. Rod Steiger (speaking perfect Italian) is particularly interesting as the developer-turned-city councilman. The guy looks like he could be any working stiff, but he has all sorts of Machiavellian plans. The last scene shows the various buildings throughout Naples, forcing the viewer to wonder if the whole thing will soon start over. All in all, it's a really good movie. PS: One scene inadvertently portends political crises to come in Italy. Towards the end of the movie, a character walks by a poster of Aldo Moro. Moro later got kidnapped and executed by the Red Brigades.