Luigi Zampa
Contestazione generale

I never thought I would post a review on "Contestazione generale," a film made by Luigi Zampa that was released in Italian cinemas in March 1970 (I saw it for the first time that year). This is not because it belongs to the category "1968 and surrounding," as I have already reviewed films from that period, but because what I recently saw on the DVD copy (edited in 2006) lent to me by a cinephile friend is a blatant example of gratuitous and ignoble posthumous censorship. I can't define it any other way: the film has been edited down from the original 131 minutes to just 97.

Originally, Luigi Zampa's film, a neorealist creation with incisive analyses of Italian customs, like "Il vigile" and "Il medico della mutua," emphasized the disorientation felt by the middle-aged adult generation towards the youth dissent of the late '60s. Thus, amidst scenes of usual student protests of the era, the film follows the vicissitudes of several characters. The first of these, an avant-garde director portrayed by the histrionic and exuberant Vittorio Gassman, proposes a documentary on the protests to a group of high-ranking RAI TV officials. They, perplexed by the audacious nature of the footage, initially waffle on what to do. But then, once they ascertain that the director isn't someone with connections, they decide not to broadcast what they viewed (a typical example of systemic censorship...).

While the first episode, titled "La bomba alla televisione," might be a little edgy (and it's no wonder it's the one suppressed in the current version of the film), the same can't be said for the next episode in which Nino Manfredi plays the role of accountant Beretta, not only challenged by his politically-engaged university son but also harassed by an ignorant and reactionary boss (played by actor Michel Simon). Here, there could have been an opportunity to critique the alienating work conditions in a hierarchical corporate setting, but Zampa favors farcical and crude tones at the expense of the overall qualitative rendering of the episode.

It fares a bit better in the subsequent part, where Alberto Sordi is a country priest unjustly at the center of malicious gossip concerning an unfounded clandestine relationship with an unmarried woman. This allows the character to question the existential condition of Catholic priests bound by vows of chastity and poverty. A problematic situation that remains unchanged and unresolved even today.

So, how should we judge what remains of the film "Contestazione generale" that, reduced in this way, cannot be assessed with the usual star ratings? It should be accepted, as a principle, that any artistic work (beautiful, ugly, or debatable) should be preserved intact. The fact that this is not the case here is most likely due to the original presence of the episode "La bomba alla televisione," in which Gassman performs with his usual flair (ironically still credited in the film's closing credits as it currently is). The explicit lampooning of the RAI TV institution, depicted as a den of well-connected and zealous servants of power then and now, suggests it provoked irritation for some high-ranking radio-television figure. Thus, carrying out subtle, silent censorship in general indifference, without causing a stir, after the death in 1991 of the almost forgotten director Luigi Zampa (incidentally the uncle of the unruly nephew Renato Curcio, a BR terrorist) was child's play. Made even easier by the fact that in Italy there are too many forgetful and distracted people regarding the state of our artistic freedom of expression. An operation following the typical method of "quashing and quelling."

It's really true that, as Giulio Andreotti observed, "to think ill is a sin, but often one guesses right..."