Slap the Monster on Page One

Days before a general election a young girl is raped and murdered. Bizanti (Gian Maria Volonté), the editor of a right-wing newspaper uses the story to help the conservative candidate his paper supports. The tumultuous time of Italy’s ‘Years of Lead’ are captured in Marco Bellocchio’s powerful political drama which directly addressed topics of its day and even prefigured the creation of the right-wing paper Il giornale, which came into being two years after this film. In an age of media manipulation Slap the Monster on Page One has never been more relevant and stands proudly alongside such Italian activist classics as We Still Kill the Old Way and The Mattei Affair. (Radiance Films)