Représailles

"Repression punishes no one except the victims and their executioners." Massacre in Rome shook me to the core. Especially the ending, which I may have suspected somewhere in the back of my mind, but I didn't really expect it. Brrr. Richard Burton delivers another of his great performances as Herbert Kappler, and every scene he shares with the excellent Mastroianni has so much food for thought that it's beyond (dis)belief. I was also intrigued by the way the future Rambo director Cosmatos approached the material - he shot Massacre in Rome in a very Italian way, and in many scenes (especially during the preparation and execution of the assassination and also in the caves) in a spaghetti dramatic style. To top it all off, Morricone's economical but all the more impressive music... Clear five stars.__P.S. I also recommend the equally impressive film The Scarlet and the Black, in which Herbert Kappler was excellently portrayed by Christopher Plummer. (09/08/2012)