stensson This is by no means an action movie. It's a chamber play telling what happens with kidnappers and victims, having an indeed strange relation.Aldo Moro has different effects on the terrorists and especially on the girl, the one who seems to have a normal life outside the terrorist cell, where she also encounters a normal man, which gives some tension.A strong part is played by the Pink Floyd music of the time "Shine on you crazy Diamond" and also by the authentic news rapports considering the crime and the funeral in the end. A capable although not strong movie.

davidgautier Based on a novel, the film describes the situation of Aldo Moro during his captivity. There is more than a meticulous realistic point of view given in this film : it tries to figure thoughts and attitudes of the kidnappers, members of brigate rosse. It explores the contradictions of hidden activists who are desperately trying to justify violent actions by the salvation of proletariat and rise of a social justice. They are seen in their loneliness, especially on the affective, emotional side. The psycho-rigidity of their mind is patent, not only in the sententious talks to their prisoner, in a certain desperate naivety to seek echos of their action in public opinion throughout medias, but also in the way they rule relationships. It's not politically that Moro's character strongly opposes to his kidnappers' characters, but rather in the way he's emotionnaly tied to his family (although being a prisonner, he can write letters), while the others seem alienated facing their own families (Mariano pretends to have cut any link to his son, Chiara tries to avoid familial phone calls and meetings, another member is mad about being away of his girl and suffers to be away from her mind and point of view when he sees her). Together, those members don't look like a family of a new kind. Maybe is it the main limit of Bellochio's movie, not to explore the way such an internal and autistic logical builds inside radical groups. But the movie spots a clearly defined place and time, focusing exclusively on elements linked to Moro's detention in a casual apartment (the gunfight of the kidnapping and then the death of the prisonner are seen indirectly throughout television). The strength of the movie is to develop a symbolic aspect with the character of Chiara's colleague (of her cover work) who defends imagination against the brutality of autocratic arbitrary. Almost fantastically, this character seems to guess Chiara's situation, writing a fiction about the events (like the movie we're effectively seeing as spectators) and modifying her feelings : when she realizes how any execution is horrible and unfair (reminding executions of italian partisani of WWII), it's too late and there is no other escape than in her own imagination (dream-like scene that the film also shows us). I believe it's a good and clever way to introduce us into such a historical event (maybe still wounding italian society), imagination. I also like the aspects and details of the movie that describe the importance of christianity in the conscience of the italians (even marxists ones, subconsciously) and critizises the sacrificial consensus into a falsely ineluctable execution but real murder.

papillons_et_moi In order to understand and fully appreciate this movie, the audience most likely needs to be Italian, and either fervently opposes the strong socialist ideologies of the Red Brigades (the terrorist-communist group that kidnaps the President), or those who strongly support them. However, this is still a movie that could stir the minds of those who are not familiar to the cause of death of the Italian President Aldo Moro, and the politics of the Italian parties.Focusing on the 'behind-the-scenes' of the kidnapping, the perspective is seen mostly from the sole female member of the Red Brigades. As the movie progresses, she faces growing moral doubts about the assassination of Moro. Many of the insights that this film could touch upon are not completely developed (such as the question of the emotions of a victim about to face death, or the cause of the radical actions of the Red Brigades); however, this is merely because of the very fact that it is seen from the woman's point of view. She is suppose to be unemotional to the kidnapping (as we are led to believe all like-minded terrorists are), and yet, a glimpse of her troublesome conscience, and of her knowledge of the history of communist policies (in Russia, for example, as seen in many clips of documentaries dispersed throughout the movie) slowly seeps through to the surface of the movie. Hence, the 'superficialness' of all the political discussions. One puzzling question in this film is: why did the Red Brigades kill Moro, when in fact, he was the only politician at that time who is willing to bridge the gap between Christian Democratic policies (the main party), and the Communist policies (party in opposition)? In fact, their killing such a person subsequently ended all attempts by Italian politicians to raise Communist ideals into reality. That is, disappointingly, never answered in Buongiorno, Notte.Most people would treat this as a renegade attempt to history, but I believe that this movie deserves recognition and an audience, especially since the world is still trying hard to understand the "irrational" minds of terrorists: this movie shows you Their point of view.

jaapparqui The Italian national trauma of the kidnapping of Aldo Moro is a very interesting subject. A deed like that raises many questions. Why is anybody so obsessed by his ideals to kidnap the Italian president and subsequently murder him? How mentally ill is such a person? What emotions do you have when you are locked up for months in a row knowing that you'll probably gonna die? Hardly any of these questions is answered in the film. All you see is two hours of people walking through the appartment. The political discussions with Moro could give some insight in the motivations of the kidnappers but are superficial. It is as if only the uninteresting aspects of this kidnapping where filmed. There are also moving moments though: the letters of Moro to his family are heartbreaking.