Angel of Evil - The Story of an Enemy of the State

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Movie
German title Angel of Evil - The Story of an Enemy of the State
Original title Vallanzasca: Gli angeli del male
Country of production Italy , France , Romania
original language Italian
Publishing year 2010
length 125 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Michele Placido
script Renato Vallanzansca ,
Carlo Bonini
production Elide Melli
music Negramaro
camera Arnaldo Catinari
cut Consuelo Catucci
occupation

Angel of Evil - The Story of an Enemy of the State is an Italian crime film by the director Michele Placido from 2010 and is based on the life story of the Italian felon Renato Vallanzasca, who became a charismatic playboy gangster in the course of his criminal career. The film premiered on September 6, 2010 at the Venice Film Festival and was released in German cinemas on February 24, 2011.

action

Born in Milan in 1950 , Renato Vallanzasca attracted attention as a child with his hearty pranks and his first criminal acts. In 1972, following his old habit, he and his gang of four attacked a money transporter belonging to Novale supermarkets, an Italian retail chain. The police quickly determined Vallanzasca as the perpetrator. Imprisoned in the San Vittore prison in Milan in November 1972 , he was transferred to Bari , 800 km away, in June of the following year because of his uncontrollable outbursts of violence against the prison staff . There he is visited by his pregnant friend Consuelo, whom he met in a discotheque the year before. Renato assures her that he will look after her and the baby after he is detained.

However, at the time the child was born, Renato was still in custody. He rages with rage and inflicts external injuries in order to get a transfer to Milan. His request is successful. Consuelo visits Renato three years later with their son in the San Vittore prison in Milan and reveals to him their new relationship with an entrepreneur. She wanted to offer her son an orderly family life. Renato inflicted severe internal injuries by swallowing two rusty nails, which resulted in a transfer to the Bassi hospital in Milan. The guards there are corruptible and Renato manages to escape. Consuelo and Renato find each other again.

Vallanzasca is now planning the really big coup and is putting together a professional team. In addition to his childhood friends Enzo and Fausto, Sergio, Rosario, Carmelo, Spaghettino, Nunzio and Beppe now belong to the gang. Several bank robberies and subsequent drug and alcohol excesses ensued. The resulting cockiness leads to an argument with the gang of the influential gang boss Francis Turatello. Francis turns down an offer of peace, so that Renato no longer sees any reason to be considerate. He robbed Francis' casino and shoots at his gang members when they behave provocatively towards him during a spontaneous street race. Vallanzascas gang Comasina then settled in the south of Italy and went into hiding for some time.

After some hesitation, the gang now dares the long-planned attack on the treasury in Piazza Vetra in the center of Milan. With the help of his tricky charm, Vallanzasca penetrates to the money depository, but at this moment his partners are involved in a violent exchange of fire with the police in front of the building and are sometimes seriously injured. Renato has to watch as his childhood friend Fausto is killed by a police officer with a shot in the head, but escapes himself without being recognized. This bloodbath causes lasting consternation in Renato.

In a newspaper interview, Renato Vallanzasca explains the end of the robberies, but he wants to land one last big coup. For example, Renato's group plans to take hostages in 1977. You kidnap a very wealthy industrialist and the daughter of a large businessman and in this way steal a large sum of cash. Beppe, Renato and Rosario feel cornered at a roadblock and open fire on the police officers, as a result of which Beppe is hit by a bullet and sinks to the ground. Renato and Rosario flee with their car, but have to roll over Beppe, who is lying on the ground, and leave behind, which is why Renato makes serious reproaches in retrospect, regardless of his own gunshot wounds.

Sergio and Rosario bring him to Rome to organize medical care for Renato. However, the friends who shelter them turn out to be traitors. On February 15, 1977, Renato was arrested by the Carabinieri in his hiding place. The media announce the end of the bloodthirsty career of Renato Vallanzasca and raise him to a media star before the start of the trial in which he has to answer for his actions and is sentenced to life imprisonment.

Other members of the Comasina gang are arrested and sentenced by Enzo's confession. During a prisoner revolt in the maximum security prison in Novara , Renato manages to gain access to Enzo's cell and he kills the traitor pleading for mercy.

In 1987 Renato was transferred to another prison, as he had done so often before - this time by sea. Before the ship can leave the Ligurian coast, Renato Vallanzasca escapes through a porthole and finds temporary shelter in an abandoned mountain hut on the Ligurian Apennines , where he feeds on tourist rubbish. He enjoys the rough nature of the mountains and his newfound freedom. Renato made his way to Milan to his parents and Antonella, who still support him. Antonella, a hairstylist by profession, changed his appearance for the further escape . After a short stopover, during which he gave a radio interview and justified his actions, he continued his journey, but was arrested a short time later at a rest stop - this time without resistance.

Renato Vallanzasca spent most of the next 20 years in solitary confinement in the high-security wing. His total sentence is four times "life" plus 290 years of arrest.

background

  • This is not the first film to deal with the story of Renato Vallanzasca. The 1977 film Der Tollwütige by Sergio Grieco with Helmut Berger in the lead role was also based on the story.
  • The film was shot in Milan.
  • The budget is estimated at € 7 million.
  • There was heated controversy about the film in Italy, but abroad the film was considered great.
  • Renato Vallanzasca did not get permission from the court to attend the premiere.
  • Vallanzasca wrote his biography Il fiore del male with the film's screenwriter Carlo Bonini . Bandito a Milano . It was released in 2009.

Reviews

At moviemaze.de Daniela Panzitta points out the lack of typical Mafia flair in the characters, as we know it from numerous Mafia films. Only Francesco Scianna in the role of Milanese gang boss Francis Turatello has "something of a weird but somehow sublime Mafia head". But "thanks to the great matching lead actor, Kim Rossi Stuart, and a dense narrative style, Angel of Evil - The Story of an Enemy of the State can entertain and captivate over the entire duration."

Paul Collmar from kino-zeit.de "can't get rid of the feeling that Vallanzasca is not much more than a mere transfer of past moviegoers". He writes: “Michele Placido tells us nothing really new when he comes to terms with the dazzling life of Renato Vallanzasca. [...] That is not necessarily an argument against the film if either the biographical references or the entertainment value promise added value. But that is exactly what is neglected in Angel of Evil. With numerous, not always successful dialogues and comparatively little action, which also seems rather brittle and uninspired, the film is a rather tough affair [...] We only see when Michele Placido divides Vallanzasa's arrest into staged events and documentary material using split screens that this man with the piercing blue eyes is based on a real role model - but you get to feel that far too seldom. "

“Director Michele Placido tells the slightly disreputable material chronologically and with a sequence of hard images. If Vallanzasca is beaten up in prison, it is not for the faint of heart. Yet the director never succumbs to the temptation to show the gangster excessive veneration. Rather, the naked and cruel reality is used for documentation. However, the question of why a violent criminal like Renato Vallanzasca could become a hero remains relatively unaffected. This leaves the viewer alone. "

- Markus Mechnich

“Where the feedback effects on history provide strong moments, the staging of the actual crimes in Angels of Evil remains somewhat pale. While American cinema has traditionally been more interested in the kinetics of criminal existence, in robberies and car chases, Placido focuses on its logic. In negative terms: the action is anything but furious. The rooms remain narrow, the pictures seem to be stuck to the faces. The film is extremely dialog-heavy - and the dialogues are not particularly remarkable. "

- Nino Klingler

“Somewhat lengthy but extremely realistic gangster epic with partly uncompromising severity. Placido would like to play with Scorsese, but does not manage to get out of the regional league entirely, because his actors are simply too colorless. He also tries too often to talk about the dialogue without the plot revealing anything. But it is convincing in production design and equipment. "

- spanky

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Premiere dates on imdb.de
  2. ↑ location
  3. ↑ box office results
  4. ↑ News on Vallanzasca - Gli angeli del male  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.cineclandestino.it  
  5. ↑ Niente Venezia per Vallanzasca  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Italian)@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.cineclandestino.it  
  6. ^ Renato Vallanzasca and Carlo Bonini: Il fiore del male. Bandito a Milano
  7. ↑ Film review on moviemaze.de
  8. ↑ Film review on kino-zeit.de
  9. ↑ Review of March 1, 2011 on n-tv.de , accessed on August 28, 2012
  10. ↑ Film review on critic.de
  11. ↑ Angel of Evil on moviepilot.de