Videocracy: For the Reality TV Junkies Who Think They've Seen Everything

That cynicism meshes flawlessly with Videocracy's humor. Maybe that's because it is the humor, from the fascist hymn that Mora gleefully sets (and shares) as his mobile ringtone to Berlusconi's campaign-karaoke commercial, simulcast nationwide with sing-along lyrics like "Thank God Silvio exists!" And don't count on changing the channel, either; Berlusconi owns and/or controls virtually all of them.

Mora and Corona in particular underscore that new, Berlusconi-era Italian shamelessness. "I really liked the fact that the more space I gave them, the more they sort of destroyed themselves -- it's like they're suicidal," said Gandini, whose rigorous visual style bespeaks both his time with and access to the subjects. He singled out Corona as "the quintessence" of Berlusconi's 30-year-old media monolith. "All these characters are just products of a system above them, which is bigger than them. I don't even think they're aware of this system. To me it made sense; they're like pawns in a bigger machinery that I wanted to understand."

Gandini did such a good job of understanding, in fact, that Berlusconi's networks have banned Videocracy's trailer and commercials on the air. (The film is currently in release in Italy; the trailer below is NSFW) The administration had already taken to suing domestic and foreign newspapers alike for their inquiries into Berlusconi's scandal-plagued reign. Gandini, an Italian native who lives in Sweden, said he received his own threatening government letter ("in a kind of Orwell text") about the ban earlier this year.

Naturally, the ban didn't quite dampen Videocracy's notoriety. "The day after, there was an explosion on the Internet," Gandini said. "People were spreading this on Facebook, on YouTube. It was uncontrollable. It became the most widely spread piece of information in Italy. Everybody was talking about this. For me, it's a good example of how out of [touch] this idea of controlling TV though censorship is. It's not going to work. It's outdated. The fact that people use other forms of communication is really significant. [...] Newspapers are the ones who always criticize Berlusconi, and they always lose because they use logic, rhetoric and words. He uses emotions. He's a TV guy! He reaches the heart."

In the end, the film's bottom line comes from a Big Brother director who suggests all of Italian TV -- and thus, all it influences by extension both inside and outside Italy -- reflects the flow of Berlusconi's own personality and obsessions. "It's like a science fiction idea," Gandini said. "That one person for 30 years can just project his taste -- in young women, especially -- [means] there's been no discussion about this. It's starting now, basically. If I was a woman in Italy, I'd grab a gun or something. It's unbelievable."

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