The Night of Politics: the Intricate Realism of Esterno Notte

Abstract

The series Esterno notte, created by Marco Bellocchio, is conceived as a continuation and expansion of his film Buongiorno, notte. The filmmaker uses the series format to multiply points of view and offer a more complex version of the Moro case. The article demonstrates the importance for the series of the favorable portrayal of the Christian Democrat politician that Sciascia provided through a sharp analysis of the letters written during the kidnapping. The series also shows that the brigadists cultivated a kind of political religion that disregarded the principle of reality. In contrast to the firmness of the corrupt government of the Christian Democracy and the dogmatism of the terrorists, Bellocchio cultivates in the series an "aesthetics of cruelty" characterized by "betraying" the conventions of the historical genre. To this end, the series’ creator proposes an intricate realism that does not hesitate to make use of fantasy and imagination to illuminate a historical event as dark as Moro’s assassination; introduces metanarrative elements that promote the viewer’s distanced and reflective judgment; and finally, demonstrates that the grotesque style is the most suitable to criticize the corrupt and abject political regime of his time.