Sbatti Il Mostro In Prima Pagina (1972)

Set in Italy. Days before a general election, a young girl (Silvia Kramar) is raped and murdered. The editor (Gian Maria Volonte) of a right wing newspaper uses the story to help the right wing candidate his paper supports. Directed by Marco Bellocchio (FISTS IN THE POCKET). This project was taken over by Bellocchio when the original director Sergio Donati was fired. Bellocchio, an active communist, changed the screenplay to become more political. But Bellocchio, unlike Elio Petri or Costas Gavras, doesn't have the style to make a first rate political thriller. What we get is very good if slightly overheated and didactic. As cinema, it's certainly relevant today as the U.S. moves toward a fascist state and the right wing's manipulation of (mis)information in the press to further its agenda. With Laura Betti, Fabio Garriba, Corrado Solari and Carla Tato.