La mafia non è più quella di una volta

A bitterly satirical documentary about Sicily's relationship with the Mafia. In 2017, 25 years after the Mafia murders of judges Paolo Borsellino and Giovanni Falcone, Sicilian filmmaker Franco Maresco, together with photographer Letizia Battaglia, who became famous for her pictures of Mafia crimes, examines how the memory of the two Mafia hunters is celebrated in Palermo. Everywhere they go, they encounter indifference, open hostility, or absurd evasive maneuvers. The latter applies above all to party organizer Ciccio Mira and his singers, who put together a celebration dedicated to the murdered men that degenerates into pure farce. The film, which follows on from Franco Maresco's documentary “Belluscone,” exposes in a comical yet bitterly angry way a mentality that tolerates and supports organized crime. THE MAFIA IS NOT WHAT IT USED TO BE (“La mafia non è più quella di una volta”) won the Special Jury Prize at the Mostra del Cinema di Venezia, bringing the brilliant Franco Maresco back to the forefront of Italian cinema after he had already been there with Daniele Cipri, then on the fringes with Lo zio di Brooklyn and Totó che visse due volte. In 2017, 25 years after the massacres of Capaci and Via D'Amelio, Maresco repeatedly questions the meaning of this anniversary and the surreal events that accompany it.