Filmmaker Marco Bellocchio brings 1970s Italian politics to the screen in this six-episode series, Exterior, Night. The story follows the 1978 kidnapping and assassination of former Italian Prime Minister and leader of the Christian Democrats Aldo Moro, who was held hostage for 54 days before being murdered by the Marxist-Leninist terrorist organization known as the Red Brigades.
This historical thriller is a retelling of these events and the circumstances leading up to the assassination, and in each episode, Bellocchio weaves in different perspectives about what happened. Moro is played by Fabrizio Gifuni, his wife Eleonoro Moro is played by Margherita Buy, Francesco Cossiga, who will eventually become Prime Minister of Italy, is played by Fausto Russo Alesi, and his close friend, Pope Paolo VI, who begs for Moro’s life, is portrayed by Toni Servillo,
Interestingly, this isn’t the first time Bellocchio has been at the helm of this story. In 2003 his movie Good Morning, Night was about the same event but told through the eyes of a member of the Red Brigades.
At the age of 82, Bellocchio, widely regarded as a politically minded and leftist filmmaker, spoke to Cineuropa.org, about Exterior, Night, explaining why the death of Aldo Moro made such an impact on him.
“Firstly, because it’s a tale from Italian history, I am personally committed to this story as a citizen from that period. Secondly, we give a different point of view this time around. We found a new key to interpret the event,” he says. “Now we don’t tell the story from inside the room, so the story is called Exterior, Night because we tell it from outside Moro’s prison. We tell the story about a series of characters not present in the first movie, such as the Minister of Interior Affairs, the Pope, Moro’s wife, and two terrorists.”
For Bellocchio, it’s a story he never tires of, and for those who are well acquainted with this historical event, Exterior, Night is full of surprises.