Director: Paolo Sorrentino
Distributor: Belga Home Video
Duration: 150 minutes
Loro (DVD) – Movie Review
Silvio Berlusconi, a name we all know. The Italian man that to this day controls the largest broadcasting company in Italy, is a known politician and even served as Prime Minister in his country for several years. Paolo Sorrentino decided to direct a movie about ‘Silvio and the others’. The movie got the title Loro, which literally means ‘them’. In this movie, “them” refers to a group of businessmen and politicians. We get a deeper look into the men who lived near Silvio Berlusconi between 2006 and 2009.
He is decadent, controversial, and anything but subtle. He built a media empire, climbed to the top of the Italian politics and survived several scandals. Loro gives us a fascinating look behind the mask of a man in the spotlights. The first part of the movie focuses on Sergio Morra (Riccardo Scamarcio), a man trying to make it by running a prostitution ring. His deal is using escorts to bribe politicians. He desperately wants to get closer to and impress Berlusconi (Toni Servillo). Of course, to get his attention he uses plenty of (half-)naked women as bait. In the meantime, Berlusconi himself is dealing with the separation from his wife of 26 years, Veronica Lario (Elena Sofia Ricci).
Since Loro starts off by focusing on the decadent life of Sergio, the first act feels rather long. We see a man with ambition but in all the wrong ways. After a while, you start to wonder when Berlusconi will come into play. His name isn’t even mentioned in the first act. Instead, he’s referred to as ‘him’, making him seem unreachable. We get an introduction into the world full of sex, drugs, and greed we are later on confronted with when the second act starts. There’s a lot of parties involved in the first act, and then during the second act it is still there but now everything is slow and patient. The balance between the two lives of these men isn’t always there, mostly since the movie lasts two and a half hours.
It does feel as if the movie gives Berlusconi more credit than he deserves. We see an aging vulnerable man, struggling with his separation from his wife, along with other personal and political issues. He seems a lot more human than many of us would picture him. However, Sorrentino said himself he wasn’t making a film for nor against Berlusconi, but “a tender look at the weakness of an old man”. We do get his point of view.
We do get to see some beautiful shooting. A lot of beautiful landscapes, combined with full colors are making their way throughout the whole movie. If you’re not really enjoying the sometimes boring conversations you can simply try to enjoy the landscapes that were used.
The most confronting part of this movie is probably the excessive use of nudity. In these times where #MeToo is all over social media and the news, and women are coming forward about sexual intimidation and abuse more than ever, this movie is definitely stirring up attention. We get a picture of lots of young girls wanting to be part of a top class world. Sex, drugs, and booze are all that and getting to hang out with men like Sergio and Berlusconi is their ultimate goal. They’re all gorgeous women looking for their place. Loro does manage to paint a picture of the world of these girls as well.
Toni Servillo does a good job portraying Berlusconi. He walks around with an unnatural grin most of the time while bringing a balanced picture of the infamous politician. Servillo isn’t new to either taking the lead in a Sorrentino’s movie nor to playing an aging man living among parties. Our second star, Riccardo Scamarcio, gives us an amazing performance as well. It seems the perfect actor was chosen for the job; Scamarcio paints a picture of a man who’s hungry for Berlusconi’s attention and will stop at nothing to get it. He manages to bring Sergio to life with the required facial expressions and movements. The acting performances from these two actors are definitely the biggest plus points of Loro.
Loro comes with 18 minutes of bonus material. Of course, it has the trailer. This wasn’t necessary but it was probably added so there wouldn’t be just one bonus feature. The remaining minutes of bonus material is dedicated to the making of the movie. Again, not very necessary to include this on this DVD but it’s nice to take a peek behind the curtains. All in all, the bonus doesn’t really add that much to the value of the DVD.
Conclusion
Toni Servillo tried to take on the challenge of making a movie about Berlusconi, but unfortunately, the movie didn’t turn out to be a success. The overall unbalanced feeling throughout the movie, rather boring moments and length of Loro contribute to this lack of success. The actors are taking first place here and not director Servillo. He stays put in second place thanks to the enjoyable landscapes.
Loro (DVD) - Movie Review,
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