Il Traditore
Italian crime and court drama by Marco Bellocchio (Vincere) about Tommaso Buscetta, the first criminal who broke the omertà of the Mafia.
The film opens in the early ‘80s as Buscetta, looking to escape an escalating internal war among Cosa Nostra factions, flees Palermo for Brazil. When he is eventually arrested and repatriated to Italy, Buscetta discovers that his family has been decimated in a power struggle over the local drug trade. After striking up a rapport with Judge Giovanni Falcone, Buscetta agrees to testify against his former associates, feeling that he has not violated the mob’s code of silence since his one-time colleagues have abandoned the Cosa Nostra’s traditional ideals.
Bellocchio’s 20-year chronicle of Buscetta’s life is highlighted by a masterful recreation of the infamous Maxi trial, the most significant prosecution of the Sicilian Mafia in Italian history, whose chaotic proceedings suggest a modern-day version of ancient gladiatorial combat in the Roman Colosseum. (source: www.tiff.net)