I've never been a big fan of movie biographies. While they have their moments, they tend to be too long or try to fit too much information into their 2 - 3 hour run time. If the movie starts off with the birth of the main character in which the biography is based off of... I know I'm in for a long, grueling experience. While this isn't true for "Il Divo", a film about Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotii, it still manages to be a bit slow.
One positive aspect of this film is the way it was shot. It's full of beautiful tracking shots and stylized sequences (most notably the death scene's and the characters introductions). In terms of music, it's very diverse, but the majority consists of classical symphony's... which work very well with their corresponding scenes. The acting was also excellent, especially Toni Servilo, who plays Andreotii.
Because of these aspects, I really wanted to enjoy the film, and I did to some degree. But after the initial setup, it went down the same road as every other bio-pic... it started to drag. It spent too much time on the lead up to Andreotii's trial (after he was accusted of mafia connections). Rather than spending time on the trial itself, the film ends right as the trial begins. This could have worked, if the events leading up to it were more engaging. But alas, most of the time is spent watching Andreotii sit and stare into space with a nervous expression on his face, or watch his political associates discussing his agenda. It could have been so much better had the writer/director chosen more interesting events to follow.
I loved the way the film looked, I loved the acting, and I loved certain visual aspects of some of the sequences... but in the end, it fell flat because it just wasn't engaging enough (mostly because it's hard to sympathize with Andreotii, who isn't a very likable person). However, I think it deserves this rating for production value alone.
My Rating: 5 out of 10
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