''The Caiman'' (, referring to the

caiman A caiman ( (also spelled cayman) from Taíno language, Taíno ''kaiman'') is an alligatorid belonging to the subfamily Caimaninae, one of two primary lineages within the Alligatoridae family (biology), family, the other being alligators. ...

) is a 2006 Italian

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

comedy-drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...

film directed by

Nanni Moretti Giovanni "Nanni" Moretti (; born 19 August 1953) is an Italian film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. His films have won accolades, including a at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival for ''The Son's Room'', a Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize ...

and starring

Silvio Orlando Silvio Orlando (born 30 June 1957) is an Italian actor. Orlando was born and raised in Naples, where he started acting in theatre in 1976. He made his film debut in 1988 with a supporting role in the comedy '' Kamikazen: Last Night in Milan'', ...

and Margherita Buy. Focusing on

Silvio Berlusconi Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; 29 September 193612 June 2023) was an Italian Media proprietor, media tycoon and politician who served as the prime minister of Italy in three governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a mem ...

's vicissitudes, it was released just before the beginning of the 2006 elections, in which Berlusconi lost. It was one of the most successful films of 2006 in Italy. It was entered into the

2006 Cannes Film Festival The 59th Cannes Film Festival was held from 17 to 28 May 2006. Chinese filmmaker Wong Kar-wai served as jury president for the main competition, the first Chinese to preside over the jury. English filmmaker Ken Loach won the Palme d'Or for th ...

Plot

Opening with a wedding between two young Communists, officiated by a CP functionary, under the poster of Mao-Tse Tung, the bride suddenly spears the man and escapes, chased by the police. This is the end of 'Cataratte'/'Cataracts', a 10-year-old action B-movie projected in an open-air cinema in honor of Bruno Bonomo (

), a cockeyed film producer, who did some trash movies starring his wife Paola ( Margherita Buy) in the 1970s. He also has two young sons loved by him and his wife. During this homage, a young woman presents him the script of a movie she wants to direct with his help. Slated to start on a project celebrating the return voyage of Columbus just after his discovery of America, Bruno is stunned when his director, Franco Caspio, quits because of the low budget. Suddenly Bruno has no projects, no financing and no leverage. Added to his many troubles, Bruno's wife asks for a separation even though they have two sons. She wants to pursue her artistic options. Bruno reads the offered script and realizes that it's a thinly disguised account of Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian media magnate who promoted his political career through his TV stations. Knowing this could draw political and legal heat, not to mention difficulty for finding funding; but the young woman convinces Bruno to start production on ''The Caiman''. The film shows how secret money, slush funds and Swiss bank accounts start Il Caimano's career as a big building developer. She hopes that the film will influence voters in the elections slated for 2006. Musing a love relationship with the writer, Bruno meets her lesbian partner and her son 'made' in a 'journey' to the Netherlands. The production of the film is rife with problems, including the defection of the main actor Marco Pulici (

Michele Placido Michele Placido (; born 19 May 1946) is an Italian actor, director and screenwriter. He began his career on stage, and first gained mainstream attention through a series of roles in films directed by the likes of Mario Monicelli and Marco Belloc ...

), but the plot of ''The Caiman'' also deals with the domestic issues between Bonomo and Paola until their final separation, with the compromises made for their two sons. Despite growing evidence that his film will never be completed, Bonomo decides to shoot the last scene, which shows the political nucleus behind the film: in it, Silvio Berlusconi (played by

himself) enters the tribunal room to hear the ruling against him (see Legal investigations of Berlusconi), which sentences him to seven years of jail. Notwithstanding the sentence, Berlusconi/Moretti exits the tribunal while a crowd throws debris at the judges, including a

Molotov cocktail A Molotov cocktail (among several other names – ''see '') is a hand-thrown incendiary weapon consisting of a frangible container filled with flammable substances and equipped with a Fuse (explosives), fuse (typically a glass bottle filled wit ...

. The whole, crude scene is not only an allusion to Berlusconi's judiciary controversies, but also to his powerful ability to communicate, which (in Moretti's view) led Italian people to support him anyway despite his controversial past.

Cast

as Bruno Bonomo * Margherita Buy as Paola Bonomo / Aidra * Jasmine Trinca as Teresa *

as Marco Pulici /

as Himself / Silvio Berlusconi *

Giuliano Montaldo Giuliano Montaldo (22 February 1930 – 6 September 2023) was an Italian film director, screenwriter, and actor. He was known internationally for his biographical docudrama Sacco & Vanzetti (1971 film), ''Sacco & Vanzetti'' (1971), which was n ...

as Franco Caspio *

Antonello Grimaldi Antonio Luigi Grimaldi, known as Antonello Grimaldi (born 14 August 1955) is an Italian actor, film director, film and television director, and screenwriter. Biography Grimaldi was born on 14 August 1955 in Sassari on the island of Sardinia in ...

as Direttore di Produzione *

Paolo Sorrentino Paolo Sorrentino (; ; born 31 May 1970) is an Italian film director, screenwriter, and writer. He is considered one of the most prominent filmmakers of Italian cinema working today. He is known for visually striking and complex dramas and has of ...

as Marito di Aidra * Elio De Capitani as Silvio Berlusconi * Tatti Sanguineti as Beppe Savonese *

Jerzy Stuhr Jerzy Oskar Stuhr (; 18 April 1947 – 9 July 2024) was a Polish film actor, film and theatre actor. Considered one of the most popular, influential and versatile Polish actors and an icon of Polish cinema, he also worked as a screenplay, screen ...

as Jerzy Sturovsky * Toni Bertorelli as Indro Montanelli *

Matteo Garrone Matteo Garrone is an Italian filmmaker. Early life Matteo Garrone was born in Rome, Italy, the son of a theatre critic, Nico Garrone and a photographer, Donatella Rimoldi. Career In 1996 Garrone won the ''Sacher d'Oro'', an award sponsored b ...

as Direttore della fotografia * Lorenzo Alessandri as Aiuto regista * Giancarlo Basili as Fritz Simmons, lo scenografo *

Anna Bonaiuto Anna Bonaiuto (born 28 January 1950) is an Italian actress. She has appeared in 48 films and television shows since 1973. She starred in '' L'amore molesto'', which was entered into the 1995 Cannes Film Festival The 48th Cannes Film Festival ...

as Pubblico Ministero Numerous Italian film makers play minor parts in the film. These include

, Carlo Mazzacurati, Tatti Sanguinetti,

Paolo Virzì Paolo Virzì (; born 4 March 1964) is an Italian film director, writer and producer. Early life and work Virzì was born in Livorno, Italy, in 1964, as the son of a Sicilian police officer in the Carabinieri and a former singer. After spendin ...

and

while actor and director

is one of the main characters.

References

Sources

* ''La condanna di Silvio Berlusconi. Morte politica e civile del Caimano. La sentenza Mediaset'', Marianna Fo ed., 2013.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Caiman, The 2006 films Italian satirical films Films directed by Nanni Moretti 2000s political comedy-drama films Works about Silvio Berlusconi Films about mass media owners Films about filmmaking Films about prime ministers Italian political comedy-drama films Cultural depictions of Silvio Berlusconi 2000s Italian-language films Films scored by Franco Piersanti