22 The Iron Prefect

[domino harvey]

The Iron Prefect



Based on the true story of the Iron Prefect, Cesare Mori, who was sent to Sicily for an Eliot Ness-in-The Untouchables style clean up of the mafia. Mori approaches organised crime on the island with uncompromising force even in the face of mass murders designed to scare him off. Pasquale Squitieri (The Climber) directs this stunning period piece which won the David di Donatello award for best film and features spaghetti western icon Giuliano Gemma brilliantly playing against type as the titular hero, winning him an award for his performance at the prestigious Karlovy Vary Film Festival. Alongside Gemma are the cream of international film from the period with co-stars Claudia Cardinale (The Day of the Owl) and Francisco Rabal (Sorcerer), the key surveyor of Italy's civic cinema screenwriter Ugo Pirro (The Working Class Goes to Heaven) and legendary composer Ennio Morricone (Once Upon a Time in America).

BLU-RAY LIMITED EDITION SPECIAL FEATURES

• 2K restoration of the film from the original negative presented with Italian and English audio options
• Uncompressed mono PCM audio
• Archival interview with director Pasquale Squitieri and star Giuliano Gemma (2009)
• New interview with Squitieri biographer Domenico Monetti (2023)
• New appreciation of Giuliano Gemma and the film by filmmaker Alex Cox (2023)
• Original trailer
• New and improved English subtitles for Italian audio and English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for English audio
• Reversible sleeve featuring designs based on original posters
• Limited edition booklet featuring new writing by Italian cinema expert Guido Bonsaver and an original article on the real-life Cesare Mori and his Mafia raid as depicted within the film
• Limited edition of 2000 copies, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings

[therewillbeblus]

This is the first Radiance release I didn't like at all. I'm definitely curious to go through the extras, since it seems a major criticism was how Mori is portrayed as fascist when he's supposed to be anti-fascist. I may have missed something but.. doesn't he approach every situation as a fascist accusing others of being anti-fascist, as well as committing fascist behaviors himself? I don't see any ambiguity present in the actions or language of the character or filmmaker, but I must have overlooked some nuance. Either way, this isn't really engaging on any level - story, character, action. Maybe Cox et al's appreciations will sell it in a new light, but this is a case where I wish I had watched them first since I'll probably never want to sit through this again, even with new context

[What A Disgrace]

I have to reflect that sentiment. Easily the most aggressively average film I've seen in a long time, to the extent that I can't think of anything particularly good to say about it, nor dredge up the interest to think of anything particularly damning. I would much rather this have been another sleazy, socially irresponsible poliziotteschi like The Climber, because even the worst of those films left me with something to react to.