''The Mafia Is No Longer What It Used to Be'' ( it, La mafia non è più quella di una volta) is a 2019 Italian

satirical Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or e ...

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

directed by

Franco Maresco Franco may refer to: Name * Franco (name) * Francisco Franco (1892–1975), Spanish general and dictator of Spain from 1939 to 1975 * Franco Luambo (1938–1989), Congolese musician, the "Grand Maître" Prefix * Franco, a prefix used when ...

. It is intended as a follow-up to '' Belluscone: A Sicilian Story'' (2014). It was selected to compete for the

Golden Lion The Golden Lion ( it, Leone d'oro) is the highest prize given to a film at the Venice Film Festival. The prize was introduced in 1949 by the organizing committee and is now regarded as one of the film industry's most prestigious and distinguishe ...

at the

76th Venice International Film Festival The 76th annual Venice International Film Festival was held from 28 August to 7 September 2019. Film director Lucrecia Martel was appointed as the President of the Jury. '' The Truth'', directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda, was selected to open the f ...

. At the Venice Film Festival, the film won the Special Jury Prize.

Synopsis

In 2017, on the twenty-fifth anniversary of

Capaci Capaci () is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Palermo in Sicily, Italy. In 2011 the comune had a population of 11,045, with a density of 1,804.7 people per square kilometre. The A29 '' autostrada'' running from Palermo to Punta ...

and

via D'Amelio bombing The via D'Amelio bombing ( it, Strage di via D'Amelio) was a terrorist attack by the Sicilian Mafia, which took place in Palermo, Sicily, Italy, on 19 July 1992. It killed Paolo Borsellino, the anti-mafia Italian magistrate, and five members of ...

s, where the

Sicilian Mafia The Sicilian Mafia, also simply known as the Mafia and frequently referred to as Cosa nostra (, ; "our thing") by its members, is an Italian Mafia-terrorist-type organized crime syndicate and criminal society originating in the region of Sicily a ...

murdered antimafia judges

Giovanni Falcone Giovanni Falcone (; 18 May 1939 – 23 May 1992) was an Italian judge and prosecuting magistrate. From his office in the Palace of Justice in Palermo, Sicily, he spent most of his professional life trying to overthrow the power of the Sicilian ...

and

Paolo Borsellino Paolo Emanuele Borsellino (; scn, Pàulu Borsellino; 19 January 1940 – 19 July 1992) was an Italian judge and prosecuting magistrate. From his office in the Palace of Justice in Palermo, Sicily, he spent most of his professional life trying t ...

, director

wonders what's left of their ideals and struggles in contemporary Sicily, dwelling on its relationship with the Mafia through one of his usually darkly comic "anthropological" documentaries. While discussing with renewed photographer

Letizia Battaglia Letizia Battaglia (; 5 March 1935 – 13 April 2022) was an Italian photographer and photojournalist. Although her photos document a wide spectrum of Sicilian life, she is best known for her work on the Mafia. A documentary film based on her lif ...

about the shallow institutionalization of antimafia by Italian politics, Maresco meets again Ciccio Mira, the shady Mafia-apologist concert organizer that four years earlier had been the subject of his documentary '' Belluscone'': surprisingly, Mira seems a changed man, seeking some kind of redemption by organizing a Neomelodic concert in

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...

in tribute of Falcone and Borsellino. However, his words still betray some nostalgia for the "good old Mafia that used to be".

Cast

* Ciccio Mira * Matteo Mannino, Mira's right-hand man * Cristian Miscel, a Neomelodic singer * Franco Zecchin, a photographer about the Mafia *

Pino Maniaci Telejato is an independent television station based in the town of Partinico, in Sicily, Italy, and managed by Pino Maniaci, broadcasting since 1989. It became widely known for its anti-Mafia reporting. History The station was founded in 1989 b ...

Production

The film was produced by Rean Mazzone and Anna Vinci with Ilapalma-Dreamfilm, Tramp Limited, Stefano Casertano - Daring House, Il Saggiatore, Moretti & Petrassi Holding, Amateru.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mafia Is No Longer What It Used to Be, The 2019 films 2019 documentary films Italian documentary films 2010s Italian-language films Black-and-white documentary films Documentary films about Sicily Films about the Sicilian Mafia Venice Special Jury Prize winners