Diaz: Don’t Clean Up This Blood lacks restraint: review
Italian director Daniele Vicari’s drama recreates the horrific assaults on Genoa G8 protesters in Diaz: Don’t Clean Up This Blood.
Starring Claudio Santamaria, Jennifer Ulrich and Ralph Amoussou. Directed by Daniele Vicari. 127 minutes. Opens July 12 at Cineplex Yonge and Dundas. 18A
Italian writer-director Daniele Vicari’s approach is as heavy handed as the bloodthirsty cops at the heart of his dramatic recreation of 2001 assaults on Genoa G8 protesters in Diaz: Don’t Clean Up This Blood.
The brutal police raid on an unarmed group inside the Armando Diaz school, being used as a media centre and hostel for social activists in the Italian city for the world leaders’ summit, is a matter of record.
Vicari’s overlong drama opens with acts of vandalism that will ring familiar to Torontonians from the 2010 G20 — a car on fire and smashed store windows — as protesters take to the streets.
Police later square off with the crowds but Max, a cop with a cooler head (Claudio Santamaria), insists they back off rather than endanger people.
Restraint hardly goes down well with the anxious and angry police, who are clearly spoiling for a fight. A protester has already been shot and more than 250,000 people have taken to the streets.
Set amid growing tension, Vicari’s dramatic recreation hangs on a group of players that pop up with little explanation of who they are or how they ended up at the G8. Except for earnest journalist Luca (Elio Germano), who goes against his editor’s wishes to be on the scene, and an elderly grandpa who is just looking for a free bed for the night, there’s no explanation of what has brought this varied group together, beyond their common political views.
Stilted dialogue, superficial characters and a threadbare story put up a wall when audiences should be feeling sympathy. Other stories are sketched in cursory ways and worthy of a more lengthy examination.
The flashpoint for the raid comes after a bottle is thrown at a police convoy near the end of the summit. It smashes to the ground without hitting its target, an image that is repeated several times onscreen as a visual punctuation mark.
The act infuriates local police brass, who all but twirl their moustaches with evil intent as they respond by cooking up evidence that armed members of the violent anarchist group Black Bloc are holed up at the Diaz school.
With an excuse for the raid established and the warning from one official he won’t be able to hold his officers back, Vicari unleashes an orgy of violence on the unarmed, terrified occupants of Diaz that goes on far too long.
Truncheons hit bodies with repeated thuds, the screams and moans of the injured filling the halls as the police storm each floor at the school with furious intent. According to press notes for the film, 50 litres of blood were splashed on walls, floors and the cast during shooting. It seems like more.
The carnage also leads to the title, the words “Don’t clean up this blood” scrawled on a note posted by a young woman who wants the scene to remain untouched to stand as witness to the violence.
The activists are arrested and endure further brutality and humiliations at the police station, most notably German legal aid worker Alma (Jennifer Ulrich), who is forced to strip and pirouette for guards when she asks to see a doctor.
With a story based on detailed accounts of those who were there, Diaz: Don’t Clean Up This Blood explores a shameful moment in modern history. The police portrayal here will do for Italian police what Midnight Express did for Turkish prison guards.
But while indignation and justified fury at abuse of power rightly fuels ensuring the world never forgets Genoa, a worthy story is missing to propel the events that encircle the excessive central dramatic scenes.
Source: http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/movies/2013/07/11/diaz_dont_clean_up_this_blood_lacks_restraint_review.html