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What makes Moro\u2019s fate such prime material for dramatization, though, are its elements of mystery and imponderability and its hints of conspiracy, as murky today as they were four decades ago. Why did Moro\u2019s own government \u2014 of which he would have become president later that year \u2014 refuse to negotiate for his release? Why did the Red Brigades finally kill him, knowing it probably would be disastrous for their cause?<\/p>\n
\u201cGood Morning, Night,\u201d told from the point of view of a female captor who begins to sympathize with Moro, was a splendid film, both passionate and razor sharp. Working across five and a half hours in \u201cExterior Night,\u201d Bellocchio spreads out, adding historical detail and giving space to players he had little or no room for in the film.<\/p>\n
Bodyguards, politicians, police officers and a mysterious American \u201cconsultant\u201d all add to the confusion. Episodes are built around Moro\u2019s grief-stricken mentee, the justice minister Francesco Cossiga (Fausto Russo Alesi); the compassionate but dithering Pope Paul VI (Toni Servillo); and, most notably, Moro\u2019s no-nonsense wife, Eleonora Chiavarelli (in a wonderful performance by Margherita Buy).<\/p>\n
The expansion moves Bellocchio away from the compressed lyricism of the film, but \u201cExterior Night\u201d stands comfortably on its own as an intelligent account of, and response to, the sordid events. (Bellocchio directed the series and was one of five writers.) Moving back and forth across the 55 days, he refracts the violence and the political opportunism through one set of eyes after another.<\/p>\n
With his typical control, he is able to work the story\u2019s wild array of elements into a lapidary whole while casually tossing off stylistic adornments. A scene in which Cossiga follows a lead into a mental hospital is a Fellini-like descent into hell. The fruitless efforts of the understaffed police and self-important military are given a subtle edge of slapstick. Smart political intrigue in the style of Costa-Gavras merges with rich family melodrama.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n