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Saturday, Apr 5, 1997
The Mattei Affair
Rosi's Citizen Kane pieces together the real life of Enrico Mattei, the most powerful and feared man in postwar politics. Italy's oil czar, Mattei was a progressive capitalist who discovered the Third World and thereby pissed off a lot of people, from heads of state to the Mafia. Mattei died in a mysterious plane crash in 1962. Was it an accident? Gian Maria Volonté gives an extraordinary performance as Mattei in this film that weaves first-person recollections by adversaries and friends of Mattei who recall the myth and reality of the man, with a dramatic counterpoint reconstructing Mattei's bold life and unresolved death. It is an "open-ended" conspiracy thriller brimming with adventure and suspense, a mosaic recounting the world of one of the century's most controversial men. The Mattei Affair was filmed in the actual locations where Mattei lived and worked-Milan, Rome, Sicily, the plains of Lombardy, North Africa, the Persian Gulf, and France. (Best Film, Cannes) Repeated Friday, April 18.
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