Traitor

Direction : Marco Bellocchio –
Scenario : Marco Bellocchio, Valia Santella, Ludovica Rampoldi et Francesco Piccolo –
Artistic direction : Dani Vilela –
Decor : Livia Del Priore –
Costumes : Daria Calvelli –
Photography : Vladan Radovic –
Editing : Francesca Calvelli –
Music : Nicola Piovani –
Production company : IBC Movie (Italy), Kavac Film (Italy), Rai Cinema (Italy), Ad Vitam Production (France), Gullane (Brazil), Match Factory Productions (Germany), Arte France (France).

In the early 1980s, the war between the sponsors of the Sicilian mafia was unparalleled. Tommaso Buscetta, a member of Cosa Nostra, flees his country to hide in Brazil. Meanwhile, in Italy, the revenge is taking place, and Buscetta’s relatives are being murdered one after the other. Arrested by the Brazilian police and then extradited, Buscetta, makes a decision that will change the history of the mafia: meet judge Falcone and betray the oath made to Cosa Nostra.

Marco Bellocchio made his first feature film in 1965: The fists in the pokets. Breaking with neorealism, the filmmaker creates baroque and committed works addressed many issues of Italian society: religion (In the name of the father, 1971), family (A Leap in the Dark, 1979), and army (La Marche triomphale, 1976). Marco Bellocchio takes a more psychoanalytical and less provocative approach to his characters from the 80s onwards with Eyes, Mouth and Henry IV, the mad king (1984). He is also more frequently inspired by literary works such as La Nourrice. At the age of 60 Bellocchio continues to create controversy in Italy. In 2002, he raised the ire of the Vatican with a new film about the Catholic Church, The Smile of My Mother. Three years later, he returns with The Wedding Director. These two films are followed by Vincere, a biopic about the mistress of Benito Mussolini and the rise of fascism in Italy. The film is presented in competition at the Cannes Film Festival in 2009, chaired by Isabelle Huppert – an actress he directs three years later in the Dormant beauty.