San Babila : Un crime inutile

Film qui capture la période italienne appelée "anni di piombo" ("les années de plomb"), culminant dans les années 70, les années d'or des assassinats politiques, du terrorisme, des guerres de rue entre extrémistes, etc. Le film est sorti dans les salles italiennes environ six mois après l'assassinat de Pasolini à l'automne 1975. Il a écrit à propos des "héros" (mais pas seulement eux!) de ce film : "Les enfants autour de nous, surtout les jeunes, les adolescents, sont presque tous des monstres. Leur apparence physique est presque effrayante, et quand ce n'est pas effrayant, c'est désespérément dégoûtant. Des vêtements en cuir horribles, des coupes de cheveux caricaturales, des yeux sans vie. Ce sont des masques d'une sorte d'initiation barbare horrible ou d'une intégration diligente et ignorante, qui ne suscite pas la compassion. (...) Dans les pires cas, ce sont de vrais criminels. Combien sont-ils ? En réalité, ils pourraient tous l'être. Parmi les groupes de jeunes que nous rencontrons dans la rue, ils pourraient tous être des criminels. Ils n'ont aucune lumière dans leurs yeux, leurs traits sont des imitations de traits de robots, sans trace de caractérisation personnelle interne. Leur silence peut signifier une demande timide d'aide (mais quelle aide ?) ou un coup de couteau. (...) Indépendamment de leur niveau d'éducation supérieur et de leur amélioration du niveau de vie, ils retombent à un niveau de grossièreté primitive. (...) Ils ne savent pas rire ou sourire. Ils peuvent seulement se grimaçer et sourire d'un air mauvais." (Zuřivý vzdor, p. 105-106.) (14/12/2013)

Four bored Neo-Nazis hanging out in the streets of Milan and making a mess under the guise of their neo-fascist ideology. But it lacks a tighter plot, a more capable writer, and actually, it only gets interesting in the last ten minutes. A definite positive are the realities of the time, the film is an unintentional travelogue of the street life of Milan in the 1970s. It’s also interesting to see the social mood, when left-leaning Italy was verbally and physically cut between neo-fascists, recruited, according to the film, from young bored upper-class boys, and communists, who are represent mostly by students. But the overall impression is marred by some naive scenes (the whole line with the unbelievably naive and stupid girl), and Morricone's music is punishingly underused, almost inaudible in fact. (13/04/2016)

Genre-wise, San Babila-8 P.M. is a political pamphlet, which is not meant pejoratively. It is simply a more politically declarative film than a genre crime movie. However, it is clearly made professionally, with good performances and direction. Nevertheless, the political message of the film has been somewhat simplified. The film is based on the positions of the intellectual Italian left of the 70s, which stood against the establishment and had a relatively radical and traditional class vision. To some extent, this corresponds to the cultural conditions in Czechoslovakia in the 30s. In this conception, fascists logically had to come primarily from the circles of spoiled golden youth, although the social reality of neo-Nazism was already significantly different back then, with a lot of involvement from working-class youth. The dangerous far-right in Italy were radically conservative officers of the Italian army and secret services, or older gentlemen from financial and industrial circles, who nostalgically remembered Mussolini and sympathetically looked at Franco, Pinochet, and the black colonels in Greece. It was these individuals who were behind the liquidation of Aldo Moro. The film also has an interesting musical aspect. Overall impression: 70%. (14/04/2008)