Now on DVD: VIDEOCRACY
Erik Gandini’s compelling exposé of Berlusconi’a Italy topped indieWIRE‘s critics poll after last year’s Toronto Film Festival, beating out COLLAPSE and THE ART OF THE STEAL to claim the Best Documentary spot. While it’s not exactly a film about the Prime Minister, it is about his media empire and its transformative, and detrimental, impact on Italian society, culture, and politics.
Described by some critics as a tragicomic “horror film,” VIDEOCRACY is a smartly constructed critique of Berlusconi, arguing that he exploited his media power to seize power, largely by training Italians to aspire to nothing more than to be or to gawk at celebrities. The viewer wants Gandini’s subjects – a clueless would be singing martial artist, a creepy agent to the stars, and a sleazy but beloved paparazzo/blackmailer/embezzler – to be satirical, Borat-like characters, but, disturbingly, they’re very much genuine. While I’ll admit to having a few guilty pleasure reality TV shows myself, seeing the depths ordinary people sink to for a taste of fame makes me think twice before watching that next show.
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what (not) to doc 