The kidnapping and murder of Aldo Moro in cinematographic fiction and historical research: (1978-2018)

Abstract

By their very dramatic nature, terrorist crimes lend themselves well to becoming cinematographic fiction and therefore cinema about terrorism has become an important subgenre within political cinema. Particularly the kidnapping and murder of Aldo Moro in 1978 has had an exceptional cinematographic impact. Between 1986 and 2018 the case has been tackled by five feature films for the big screen and two docufictions for television, in addition to another film that staged his death two years before it happened, which reflects the echo that that crime had in Italian society. This article examines these eight films, putting them in relation to what historical research has revealed. In particular, it examines the four elements that stand out most in the narrative transmitted by them: the presentation of Aldo Moro as a victim abandoned by everybody, the predominance of individual and family values over the defense of the State, the allusion to conspiracy theories with no basis in the proven facts, and a desire for reconciliation that not only presents Moro in a very favorable light, but also eliminates the harshest edges of his murderers