The spiritual exercises are a
religious practice conceived by
Saint Ignazio of Loyola
in the early decades of the 1500's.
Officially sanctioned by the Church
in 1548, for their great spiritual efficacy,
the exercises were soon adopted for
the moral devlopment
of men wielding economic and political power.
Attention, attention.
Attention all citizens.
The epidemic continues to claim victims...
amongst the population of our country.
The only way to fight the epidemic
is through compulsory vaccination.
All citizens of all ages must present themselves
for vaccination against the epidemic
at the special centres set up by
the Red Cross
for the anti-epidemic campaign.
The Eve
Here he comes. The first one is
at the gate, over.
- The car is in the drive, over.
- Roger.
Welcome, Mr. President.
Assistant Commissioner Arras.
I'm here to the end.
- The end of what?
- Until the end. Please.
- Anyone here yet?
- No. You're the first.
I wish I were last.
This way please.
- Good evening, Excellency.
- 602.
Would you like anything?
- Notify Don Gaetano.
- At once.
I'm confused... I'd like to visit the chapel.
This way.
Father, 602 is on the way.
Our... Father...
who art... in heaven...
hallowed be... thy...
name... Thy...
kingdom... come...
Thy... will... be done...
I wanted to spend the night
here in prayer.
- Will they all come?
- Everyone.
But maybe he won't come.
There's an 80% chance.
So he told me by telephone earlier.
Pity! It's a unique and
propitious occasion.
We're at the crossroads...
it's painful, but inevitable.
I believe he'll come.
Here they can see us.
This is the fifth accusation against you.
Anonymous.
It's them again:
they're after me.
But they want me in jail.
Hide it.
Bless me.
Soon you'll be rid of me.
Maybe I have cancer.
Where?
Where temptation was strongest.
- Well then, where?
- Guess...
Will you hear my confession?
Tomorrow. I won't hear it now.
Besides, it's dangerous.
There could be microphones.
- Are you very tired?
- Yes! Go away!
They're scoundrels.
Pray!
Pray.
Pray.
- Found anything?
- no, nothing so far.
Have you looked properly?
- They've got smart.
- Don't you believe it.
Who are they?
Do you know them?
The younger one is Senator Martellini,
chairman of FITOD.
The other one is Caudo,
Vice-President of ARABIC.
They weren't expected here tonight.
I'll check their luggage.
A few words...
to thank Don Gaetano.
What kind of priest do you think I am?
Good or bad?
Like the others.
- Disgraceful.
- One must forgive them...
- they're Mediterraneans!
- Praised be Jesus Christ.
Now and for ever.
Enjoy your meals.
I'd like your permission, Don Gaetano,
to eat with the service staff.
From tomorrow you may.
Today we're not organised.
There are many problems.
Here's one...
my brother should resign from
your company.
If I get back into government,
certain precautions must
be taken, right?
Regretfully!
I'm a bad priest. Very bad.
And I'll tell you more...
The Church's triumph is due to
bad priests.
Their wickedness servers to confirm
and glorify sanctity.
He called. He's coming.
The chances are increasing.
It seems that he's coming.
- Enough! I refuse to eat with thieves like you.
- What did you say?
I said I refuse to eat with thieves like you.
- You may be a thief!
- You're the thief - a banana thief.
- Stamp thief!
- You're thieves.
Thieves! They laugh...
First they steal, then they come here
to laugh at God's people.
Cry! One can't escape expiation.
They'll get what they deserve.
They laugh... you should cry instead.
You're dead and you don't know it.
The people want it; God wants it.
- Praised be Jesus Christ.
- Now and for ever.
We all have so many fears.
They've lost their self-control.
As if they could see hell.
Hell is nearby. It's underground.
We're inside it.
I'm here to lead you there by the hand.
This time you'll all do the spiritual
exercises properly.
Just as I say.
Jesus...
Why didn't you wake me
when you got back?
You looked so peaceful.
I want to pray with you.
The Ignatian prayer...
with deep breaths.
Our... Father...
who art... in heaven...
hallowed be... thy...
name... Thy...
kingdom... come...
Thy... will... be done...
on Earth... as in heaven.
Give us this day...
our daily bread...
- Who is it?
- It's me, Voltrano.
- Voltrano... hide.
- I must speak to you.
Open up - it's Voltrano.
I'm alone. It's important!
Only you can save the Party.
You must go back and lead
the government.
At your side you'll have me,
Mozzio, Dergo, Caprarozza,
Schiavo, and maybe even Michelozzi,
with all URU's money.
- Voltrano, I don't need...
- All together...
We must sweep away the filth
lurking in our Party.
- There's a woman...
- That's not true.
- I don't need you, Voltrano.
- But I need you.
- I don't need you.
- You do...
I have all you need to achieve
your goal.
- In the name of our long friendship.
- I won't be a scapegoat.
Careful: I'm an archive.
I have all the proof.
- Proof of what?
- Everything.
- Everything? No, thank you.
- It's a present.
Thank you, Voltrano.
Thank you, thank you.
Have a good rest.
Prepare for prayer.
- The werewolf is...
- Yes, yes.
First day
Good morning, gentlemen.
This year too, His Eminence
Cardinal Goffredo Beccari...
has been so gracious as to attend the
opening of our spiritual exercises.
- Did you hear the radio?
- Yes. At 7:00 and 7:30.
What news on the epidemic?
Ten cases in Rome's outskirts,
and three dead at Lecce.
That would make 35 dead so far,
is that right?
No, it's 50.
Arithmetic is not my strong point.
How is it?
Low.
His Eminence's car is
now approaching.
It stops at the entrance,
where the waiting throng
pay His Eminence their
warm respects.
The Cardinal is welcomed by a
respectful Don Gaetano,
director of our spiritual exercises,
and of all the participants.
Now, some statistical data.
This year there are 103 participants,
while last year there were only 89.
This is further proof of the interest
in our conventions,
as a centre of orientation in
these difficult times.
- They'll make him Pope.
- He's too young.
This year too, the participants
are very distinguished.
Amongst those already present,
are four government ministers,
nine under-secretaries,
thirteen MP's,
six senators, four chairmen
of state enterprises,
nine deputy chairmen,
three general managers,
five chairmen of insurance
and financial institutions,
three top magistrates,
two newspaper editors,
three regional editors,
and many other authorities,
political and economic.
We see the arrival of Senator Lombo,
accompanied by his sons,
Under-secretary Aldo, and Hon. Franco.
A family which has done much
for the city and the nation.
Again this year, they didn't want
to miss this moment of spirituality,
for which they've always
shown great fondness.
Please Father, go away.
He's not coming. Let's go back to Rome.
- Too bad for him!
This is our chance for a new start.
He'll be left out.
Let's give them enough rope
to hang themselves.
We mustn't make mistakes.
Let's stay.
I don't agree. It's dangerous.
- The deacon.
Don Gaetano goes to meet them.
Senator Lombo pays his respects.
Here are some other famous
participants.
Mrs. Capra Porfiri, mother of
the minister Capra Porfiri,
whose work in defence of
religious education is well known.
Let them speak first.
Someone always does.
Don't say "painfully",
or "regretfully", or "sadly",
and above all, talk magmatically,
as you always do.
Anyway, they don't believe you as
you don't believe them.
Speak 'officialese' only if
you have nothing to say.
You are assembled here...
of your own free will, as always.
In isolation, and stripped of
all your privileges and affections,
to create through prayer,
meditation and talks,
a language which will bring
you closer to God.
But will God want to listen to you?
You are all politicians.
You are God's privileged children.
You govern this country in the
name of the faith.
And yet... I read in your eyes
bewilderment and fear.
Your souls are frozen with dismay.
Why?
Are you perhaps afraid at the
prospect of losing your power?
Power which for years you've wielded
over people and things.
But I ask you:
in the past year, have you rendered unto
God that which is God's?
You need have only one fear:
that of having strayed from God,
and from the Church.
The dismay of knowing that sin
invokes death. I repeat:
God will listen to you!
''If only you were cold,
"but as you're neither
warm nor cold,
"but tepid, I shall start to vomit
you from my mouth".
The Apocalypse of St. John.
There... I want these spiritual
exercises
to be... memorable for you!
Lamb of God, who taketh away
the sins of the world...
Give us peace.
The Communion hymn.
This has taught us
the love of God.
He gave His life for us.
And we too must give our
life for our brethren.
Father - where are the hosts?
- Someone has taken them.
- You've forgotten to bless the hosts.
- I did it this morning.
- This is empty too. Someone has stolen them.
Dear brethren, something very strange
and incredible has happened.
Those wishing to receive communion
will have to wait until tomorrow.
- But...
- They've stolen even consecrated hosts.
- It's a sign.
- Yes.
It's a bad start.
Lord... why me?
Saint Ignatius said that the
best way to control overeating
if you're tempted to eat to excess,
is to fast.
Well, my friends: I shall fast.
- Voltrano, what do you mean?
- What I said.
We know you. You're hinting at
other forms of eating
No. In fact, I'm fasting.
I'm following the saint's advice.
Why don't you fast too?
And all of your faction?
Why don't we all fast?
It would also do us good.
Didn't we eat enough yesterday...
the day before yesterday?
With filial devotion...
Shall we continue to eat
as it was in the beginning,
is now and ever shall be,
world without end?
Those wanting to fast,
raise your hands.
Friends, here amongst us,
there are also people...
who've suffered hunger.
The others must fast. The others!
Who is this saint who's suffered hunger?
Tell us his name.
I had prepared a few words to
thank Don Gaetano...
for this opportunity to reflect
and to reconsider.
But...
I'll tear up what I wrote.
I'm tearing up everything,
as you can see.
No prepared speech.
Let's start from zero,
as we should.
I feel the time has come
to think back on the 30 years
during which we've led the country.
Thirty years...
during which we've carried
out a difficult, painful...
maybe agonising... agitation...
I mean reconciliation...
between the past, the future
and the present.
Between religion and political practices.
Reconciliation...
between public and private
enterprises,
between North and South,
between Right and Left,
rich and poor,
wages and prices...
- Good and evil.
- Between us and them.
Now... no-one wants to
admit the need...
for any reconciliation
with our role itself.
They ask for...
clarification.
Then... what should we do?
We can no longer dilly-dally...
New orientations are necessary.
What a nerve!
Or else admit failure...
painfully.
- What failure?
- Speak for yourself!
I think, friends, that the first
reconciliation should be between us.
Now you must fast.
For today... I will fast.
I too.
- I will fast.
- I will too.
- I will not.
- I will fast.
- So will I.
- I won't.
- I won't fast.
- The hosts!
- It's a sacrilege.
- Who put them there?
- My God.
Who did that?
Let him come forward if he dares.
- A doctor, please!
- Let's take him to a cardiologist.
Gentlemen! Our first meditation
begins in one hour.
It'll be on sin.
I suggest you go back to your rooms
and prepare for meditation with all your hearts.
My baggage. I want to leave.
Meditation on sin
The first meditation is on sin,
Giacinta.
I... must prepare myself.
I have to think deeply about sin.
- Will you help me?
- Yes... yes.
Sin comes from "peccus",
a foot defect.
The defect makes one limp...
and stray from the right path.
I must weigh all my sins...
all the filth and perversity
of my sins.
I must face up to all the filth...
and corruption of my sins!
I'm a canker which
festers, festers!
I'm a purulent abscess.
Purulent!
All my sins.
Here we are, Giacinta and I...
sinners at Your feet.
And with our imagination,
we look at our sins.
But my wife is innocent.
I'm the guilty one.
- No, it's not true.
I have sinned.
I want to sin.
I am the source of infection.
- I corrupt you, my husband.
- No, not now. Not now.
I'm sorry.
Giacinta...
what did the radio say about
the epidemic?
- More deaths.
- Where?
One... in Avellino.
The theme I've chosen for
the first meditation...
of our spiritual exercises is sin.
The sin of the rebel angels?
Original sin? No.
Personal sin.
Now, I ask you:
what is your personal sin?
The sin of a man in power?
Look at your hands. Look at them!
The power they wield is
burning them.
Yes, it's burning them.
There would be no sin, if there
were no power.
You wield the power...
and you put no limits on your
powers and sins!
How much time do you
think you have left?
Power kills.
It has already killed.
Have you confessed your
sins to yourselves?
Have you confessed them
before God?
He confessed, and did not deny,
and confessed.
Why, if he confessed, did he add
"and did not deny"?
And why, if he confessed
and did not deny,
did he add "he confessed"?
He's here...
Your Excellency,
your place is here.
Who are you?
A minister, an under-secretary,
a state councillor, a financer?
A party leader?
A famous journalist?
All right, you're a powerful man.
Then I ask you: what do
you confess? How do you confess?
How do you all confess?
And why do you confess? To be absolved?
If what you stole from others
can be returned and isn't returned
the confession of this sin
isn't valid.
Sins can be forgiven...
only if what was stolen
is given back.
There is no salvation
without restitution.
Money, credit, trust,
appointments...
power itself. That which is ill-gotten
must be returned.
The Neapolitans are going.
They have a guilty conscience.
Professor Bastanti too.
Strange.
Retire now. Meditate on this theme
alone in your rooms,
with your own consciences.
One will be chosen, another will be left out.
Where a corpse lies...
therein the eagles will meet.
Friends, feel free to speak.
The priest called us thieves.
By "ill-gotten" he meant "stolen."
That seems clear, no?
We won't be absolved until we
return what was stolen.
After dedicating 30 years
to the country,
I feel sad, humiliated.
I feel like a leper!
We should have carried on
doing our professions.
No-one checks a manufacturer,
a doctor, an engineer or a trader.
Friends, everyone is asking
us to change.
We'll have to return something.
Never! How many posts have we lost
through our weakness?
ALERAC and many other
corporations are theirs.
We might as well be in opposition.
I ask myself if behind the priest
there isn't the will of someone higher?
Maybe the Church is trying to distance
itself from us?
That would be the height of ingratitude.
They can't. They can't
abandon us. And for whom?
- For them?
- It's unthinkable. - Absurd!
The Church is always one step ahead.
It can smell the crisis
in manufacturing.
Yes to capitalism,
as long as it's state-run.
- So everyone's happy.
- Why the fuck is he here?
- "He" also means "her".
- Who?
America.
What if everyone, I mean everyone,
industrialists, priests
the CIA and so on, are all
agreed to liquidate us?
- Why? What for?
- We must act, not pray.
Get out!
You pray in the dark... and alone.
Until you dull your senses.
Imagine being before your judge.
The real judge.
...otherwise you won't gain
any credit from our Father in Heaven.
When you give alms,
don't sound the trumpet before you...
Thank you for coming.
We're ready.
It's a difficult time.
It needs all our concentration.
Just like the spiritual exercises.
Excuse me a minute.
Make the hearts of these
people insensitive.
Block their ears,
close their eyes.
so they cannot see with their own eyes,
or hear with their own ears.
What brings one closer to the faith?
Development or stagnation?
God is not convertible currency.
Is parasitical income a
venial or a mortal sin?
Who said it was a sin?
Who's more help to the faith?
An employed worker...
or an unemployed one?
God's dismissal is forever.
For a capitalist society,
a fall in the interest rate
is tantamount to a vocational
crisis for the Church.
Neither priests, nor entrepreneurs.
One mustn't give up hope.
I know they're after you.
I'm not afraid to go to jail.
I am.
- Good evening.
- Good evening.
- Good evening.
- Good evening.
"I can do anything,
but not everything is useful.
"I'm allowed everything,
but nothing will enslave me."
Good evening.
- Here.
- No. Please...
Excellent talk... topical.
- Enjoy your work.
- Thank you.
Let's begin.
- Let's begin.
Indeed. Friends, time is running out.
National income has fallen.
Investments have collapsed.
The budget deficit has
more than doubled,
Only the worker's selfishness
has survived.
This is the socio-economic problem.
Leave!
You weren't invited.
Leave!
I too am a child of God.
- Leave.
- I too am a child of God.
- Get out, I said.
- Why start the clean-up with me?
It's a difficult time.
- We are many... why start with me?
- It's a difficult time.
I've always done my duty
for the Party and the Church.
- Church and Party.
- What are you doing?
I've always lived in abstinence
and penitence...
I've always lived like a martyr.
In self-flagellation...
Look here! And here!
Yes, I've stolen.
I've stolen... I'm a thief.
I stole for the Party!
- The punishment is excessive...
My life has been hell.
Please, Voltrano,
don't do this...
- I must be saved.
- Cover yourself.
Please, Voltrano...
About those children...
there were four.
We must be understanding.
Calm now, calm.
I won't go down alone.
- Please.
- Thank you.
To work. It's late.
It's a transitional period.
I'll have to carry the cross
of mediation to Calvary...
for the new order. These thousands
of restless corporations...
must be made fruitful.
Isn't that so? - Yes.
My cross has become heavy.
- But so has theirs.
- Why? What have you done?
They had to admit their inferiority.
They're incapable of analysis.
Mediation, mediation...
New faces, start from zero,
centralism,
They're immobilised.
Now we're at mediation...
and a new strategy
aimed at stability.
Great parallel lines which run
towards infinity in a design,
which only purports to be the
realisation, right?
- Yes.
- Of a bigger design,
eternal and motionless...
- Immutable.
- Yes, immutable.
We must never forget
that the poor...
form the absolute majority of
the electorate.
- This is the problem.
- So be it.
The Holy Rosary
Now we'll contemplate the five
sorrowful mysteries.
In the first, we see Jesus on the
Mount of Olives.
Our Father, who art in Heaven,
hallowed be Thy name...
- What are you doing? - Why?
- Who are you? - The cook.
- I see!
- Then I can stay? Thanks.
He's dead!
I absolve you of your sins,
in the name of the Father...
The Hon. Michelozzi is dead.
He's been shot.
Block all the exits!
No-one is to leave the hotel.
Monitor the phones.
What is it? What are you doing?
Why are you searching me?
Hands off!
I'm the cook!
Gentlemen, let us pray.
In the chapel in one hour.
Meditation on hell.
Second day
Meditation on hell
The priest is intelligent, very intelligent.
Extraordinary, terrible...
If only I had him in my hands to interrogate properly.
I'd make him spit out his soul, if he has one.
Because it's clear, the murderer...
The murderer...
Is it him?
It's one of them.
- Where are they now?
- They're all in church, meditating.
- Can we go in?
- Sure. This way.
I want to talk to you, quite
unashamedly, about hell.
We mustn't be ashamed to
believe in hell.
Hell and punishment are the
basis of Christianity.
And I as a shepherd,
today more than ever,
in this grave moment, here below...
I feel the need to remind my flock
of the danger it faces:
That of having forgotten hell.
You must try to visualise...
in your own minds
the length... the breadth...
the depth of hell.
See the immensity of the flames.
The souls of the damned!
They're like incandescent bodies.
The dark flames, black smoke,
the endless darkness...
the burning sulphur.
The massed bodies one on top of the other,
without a breath of air.
The fire of hell... doesn't give out light.
The sins of men in power deserve hell
more than any others.
I see representatives of earthly justice.
I ask all here present to be
at their disposal.
Dr. Scalambri,
Public Prosecutor's Office.
Let us proceed in peace.
Gentlemen... Gentlemen.
Gentlemen!
I realise I can't interrogate
you one by one.
So, I'll try to recreate the
scene of the crime.
Please stand where you were last night.
- Not barefoot?
- No, with shoes.
- Professor, weren't you at the back?
- No.
- Weren't you at the front?
- I was here.
I was the first! Gentlemen, please...
Can you tell me who was with
you when you began?
The Hon. Michelozzi and the
President, for sure.
Mr. President...
Indeed I was here before I left...
and poor Michelozzi... also because...
- And Mozio.
- Yes...
Schiavo...
There's Schiavo.
- Come, Schiavo.
- No.
- No?
- No.
- You were there.
- No, it was Capra Porfiri.
- No, you were.
- No.
- You were.
- No, Capra Porfiri.
No, Mr. President, I was in the
second line, on the right.
No, that's not correct.
Between me and Schiavo,
there was Senator Caudo on my right.
I've never been on your right, Mozio.
I've always been to the left of you.
How were you placed?
The President, Mozio, Michelozzi,
Don Gaetano, Voltrano, me and Vestrero.
That's a lie. I've never been
on Michelozzi's right.
Come off it! You've always
been on the right!
You were even to the right of Mussolini!
Gentlemen, I must know who was
on Michelozzi's right.
Look, unfortunately, as everyone knows,
I confuse the right with the left.
I've been the butt of ridicule...
this anomaly has given rise to many misunderstandings.
But I can testify that at the
time of the shot...
On the right of Michelozzi was...
Please...
- Capra Porfiri.
- No.
- Caudo.
- No.
- Please, Schiavo...
- Otherwise... - Caudo... Caudo.
On my right was... Don Gaetano.
Yes. And the only one who can
bear witness is Voltrano,
who's to the right of everyone,
so interrogate him.
Voltrano? Would the Hon. Voltrano
please come forward?
Anyone approaching the Hon. Voltrano...
is asked to tell him that Judge
Scalambri is at his disposal.
The Interrogating Judge is at his disposal.
Giacinta!
Giacinta!
- Giacinta? - Who is it?
- It's me, open up!
Voltrano came in.
He was raving... He undressed me
and tried to rape me.
He stole all my tights.
He was in a frenzy.
He swore like a trooper.
- It was awful!
- Sit down.
Did you give in?
He left a letter for you.
He said it was all in there.
My God!
- It's the end.
- No, don't leave me.
I've never taken money from them.
Mr. President, they'll kill me...
Capra Porfiri...
Who gave it to him?
Yes, burn it!
Well...
Shall I burn it?
Can't we mediate?
Yes, I'll keep the letter.
It's better for everyone.
Zater's like a tomb.
Besides, you have no choice.
Don't you worry.
I'd like you to hear my confession.
You should've taken your vows.
Being a lay person doesn't suit you.
Have you ever tried to dress as a priest?
Try it. At least once.
It's a bit like being a woman.
In summer, the breeze enters
under the genitals.
You can go without briefs.
Priests are half-men and half-women.
- I'm listening.
- I dream!
I had a meeting with the
Dutch Ambassador... and...
- I dreamt.
- What?
I dream... like this,
with my eyes open.
Desires...
of rape... even passive,
understand?
- Deeds?
- None, like in politics.
Even there I dream of taking decisions...
The Health Reform, free medicines, for instance.
- And?
- You know how concerned I am about it,
but I can't pass it.
I set the wheels in motion...
Then I pull back.
It's like a... like a frustrated erection.
So... what should I do in this immobility?
One must wait for all to be fulfilled.
Yes?
They've found Voltrano... dead!
I knew it! Give me absolution.
Another time; there's no hurry.
- The letter.
- I'll guard it jealously.
- I trust you.
- Good.
- It's risky...
- I know.
They left it like that -
in two garbage bags, sewn up together.
No, it's better not to go near it.
Professor Orecchio states the Hon. Voltrano
shows signs of the epidemic.
Did the disease kill him?
No, he was murdered.
But there are signs of it.
What do you think of these murders?
Well, you see, for me...
these murders never really happened.
- He's barefoot.
- True.
Tights. Panties.
Panties, tights...
Voltrano's bag was full of panties...
I wonder why?
- Spares.
- What do you mean?
Everyone knows Voltrano was a pansy.
He started in the seminary,
continued in the prison camp...
He was a happy little arse...
Why did they give this case to a
young prosecutor like you?
Because I was on duty.
Don't make me laugh!
They're afraid of being found out.
We all have so many fears here.
Anyone who errs here, dear Sir,
errs for ever.
- I'm going down.
- Pity!
What do you mean?
Rome sent me word that you're
a Mason. Is it true?
You've never been baptised.
Is that possible?
- Yes.
- I'm ready to be your godfather.
You must let us leave.
Duties and responsibilities await us.
- In Parliament...
- The Senate...
We absolutely must leave.
We feel like we're on trial.
Treat this not as an investigation,
but as a continuation of your spiritual exercises,
and consider me as your confessor.
Like hell you're our confessor!
Is that you?
- Who are these people?
- Specialists.
Specialists? Do me a favour.
Not the dog collar. Please!
Don't worry, madam, he'll be back soon.
Don't worry, Giacinta.
- Where's room 801?
- At the end, on the right.
- Praised be Jesus Christ.
- Now and for ever.
Miss, we're still waiting.
Even if they weren't part of our faction...
Voltrano... Michelozzi...
Voltrano... Michelozzi...
Shut up!
We'll end up like them.
They'll kill us all!
Miss, tell him the call will be amplified.
Excellency, he's here. Hold on.
Good evening.
Good evening.
Come closer.
Good evening - about time!
Don't argue!
I don't need to warn you that
this call will be recorded.
Obviously!
Tell me who's there?
Ventre, Schiavo, Caprarozza, Bastante,
Mischia, Mozio, Giocu, Vestrero,
Sacca, Mortale, Fatigo,
Pausa, Lo Mazzo, Caudo and me.
Friends, unless Caudo leaves
the room I will not continue.
Agreed!
Has he left?
Did you hear? Please go.
Has he gone?
He's going.
Caprarozza, check it out.
I inform you that the Party is
sure of your innocence.
Therefore, you can co-operate with the judge,
taking due precautions.
I believe the group must disband.
- Two are already dead.
- The plot thickens! Some have heart ailments.
- The cook is innocent.
- The killers come from outside...
- why are we staying?
- What do you want?
This is our opinion:
everything can be lost, or salvaged.
The Party tells you, come on, stay, stay.
Pray, continue with your spiritual exercises,
until the judge lifts all restrictions.
So, the Party advises us to stay?
No! The Party orders you to stay.
Keep us informed.
The survivors will.
We shall see. Good evening.
Good evening.
They want to keep us here,
away from our organisations.
- Press and TV.
- Parliament, banks...
- Parishes...
- Airports...
Away from our parishes.
What's happening outside?
Why are they excluding us?
Excluding us? From what?
You must be frank with us.
Excluding us from what?
I don't know.
Gentlemen... the meditation on the
cross is about to begin.
Gentlemen, we're here to pray.
Meditation on the cross
...to obtain life,
you will no longer have vain visions,
and you will no longer practice
divination.
I shall deliver my people
from your hands,
and you will discover that
I am the Eternal One.
These men don't deserve to be
treated with equity,
for they give bad advice in this city.
And, in my anger, I shall make
pelting rain fall down,
What have I done for Christ?
What am I doing for Christ?
What shall I do for Christ?
You have multiplied your
murders in this city.
You have filled its streets with corpses.
Thus speaks the Lord, the Eternal One.
Your victims, lying all over this city,
are the flesh. This city is the pot,
and you shall be eliminated...
He wasn't like that when we left him.
Why undress him?
What's their aim?
Is there a message in all of this?
But I took him to the helicopter!
Don Gaetano, don't leave me alone!
Another one! Who is he?
It's Professor Martellini,
chairman of FIET.
That's where he got to!
He's been dead for 24 hours...
before Michelozzi...!
Don Gaetano, tell me what you know.
I feel left out...
I'm not part of it.
But why?
What's going on?
If the spiritual exercises are done properly,
something always happens.
Didn't you know?
It's like a sance.
I've always served the clergy faithfully.
America and business...
They must defend me.
I don't want to die!
- Where's your husband?
- I don't know.
There were some men...
maybe they took him away.
- Who were they?
- I don't know.
Yes...
No - you stay there.
For liturgy and confession,
women must be kept separate.
The only sins I'm guilty of
are sins of desire.
I covet for him... the leadership.
Power, glory, a 7-year mandate.
I covet for him victory,
because only he can...
raise Italy from the abyss it is in.
Like a mother,
I see him leading the nation.
I can see his monument... there...
I'm like Italy,
and to me... he's Cavour.
He's Garibaldi.
That's it: to me, he's Cavour.
And I can't... I can't make
love to Cavour...
to Garibaldi, Metternich, Disraeli or De Gaulle!
And to me he is Christ on high.
To me he is... Christ!
Maybe... that is my sin.
I let him suckle me,
so he'll become strong.
But a mother cannot make love
to her own son.
And also... other desires.
I desire... I desire...
all that's forbidden.
All that you know.
Even right now, when I was his secretary,
I enjoyed it when he dictated his speeches.
Today I enjoy it when he recites them.
But it all stops there,
despite our six children.
And I desire... I desire...
Maybe I don't even know what.
Maybe I want him to die.
All my desires are about death.
I want him to become a monument
to a dead man...
and I, a woman...
The murderer is...
No... no...
We adore you and bless you, Christ,
because through your holy cross...
you've redeemed the world.
Notify only the participants that,
in room 801,
we've found Martellini's body as well.
Exult and rejoice,
for great is your reward in heaven!
From now on, all participants must approach
the sacrament of confession!
O God, if You want to, You can save me.
Why didn't you tell me or Arras
first about these deaths?
- Still helping your friends?
- They're not my friends,
but though I despise them,
I love them...
They hasten the fall.
You don't believe in us, in the State?
I hope you won't pain me by telling
me there's still a state.
Won't you co-operate?
And justice... blame... expiation?
You can't forget you're a judge,
just as I can't forget I'm a priest.
We're the dead who bury the dead.
Michelozzi had some very
compromising papers on you.
- Did you know that, Don Gaetano?
- So did Voltrano.
Voltrano even had the evidence.
But you, dear sir,
what can you prove?
I can't prove anything without
your help.
But you're showing your worst side!
There you go, using divisive words.
Worst... best...
white... black.
Whereas everything is but a long fall.
- Like in a dream.
- What?
Like in a dream, understand?
Nothing more to tell me?
Haven't you noticed that...
one of the most important of
them has disappeared?
The one that some of them call
"The President".
Is he dead too?
Who told you?
- Seen the President?
- No.
- Seen the President?
- No.
Why? Has something happened to him?
Go and have a look.
- Seen the President?
- Not since the second meditation.
- Gentlemen...
- The lights!
- Scalambri! - What's happening?
Scalambri has disappeared! Where is he?
What's going on? Call for back-up.
Mr. Scalambri?
Mr. Scalambri?
- Here.
- Come, Mr. Scalambri.
- Where?
- I'm here... in the crypt.
- Come...
- I'm coming.
Some masked men brought me here.
What's happening?
That's Capra Porfiri.
Unfortunately for him,
I arrived too late.
- Is he dead?
- Yes. Irreversibly so...
As was intended.
What are you doing here
with a dead man?
Sir, I must put forward a hypothesis...
A hard, painful, bitter hypothesis,
but credible.
Given the recent troubles in
our political life,
and the links which tenaciously bind it...
to crime, immorality...
and even science-fiction.
- May I?
- Please.
To cover it.
It's better to cover it before breaking our reserve.
Sir, through the dead, someone...
I don't know who...
Understand this: I don't know who.
Someone wants to send us a message,
a warning, a signal.
- What? - A chair.
- Please explain.
I don't understand.
It's easier than it seems. Look...
Read what's written beside the
name of the first victim, the Hon. Martellini.
- Michelozzi, you mean.
- No, the man with red hair.
Scaglia... Ifim... Rate...
Ortis... Vicipu...
Do you know what all these strange
words mean?
They're acronyms. And I presume each one
stands for a corporation...
or institution the victim had an interest in.
Well done!
The Hon. Martellini...
was chairman of many companies...
all State companies.
- Pay attention: and so were the others.
- And?
And? I can assure you that all
these strange words...
"ISNAN... REACA... DOBRA... CICA...
ANAU... ANASARDA..."
Together, separate, multiplied, divided,
they form the following sentence:
"Todo modo para buscar la
voluntad divina!"
- What does it mean?
- A saying of Saint Ignatius,
it means: "the search to find the divine will."
Who suggested this crazy hypothesis?
Forget it. Specialists have deciphered
some basic acronyms.
FITOD... of which the poor
Martellini was chairman,
"Financial Investments Overseas."
400 billion lire a year... FITOD... TOD...
O... TODO...
Now to the second company,
Michelozzi's: CROMOR.
"Credit and Overseas Marketing Operations."
From CROMOR we can take the
following initials: O, M, O.
OMO?
- So we have TODO...
- TODO...
MO... as for the rest, read the other acronyms
of the companies chaired by the third dead man.
ISVAINER, ELEGANT, ERICORNA,
INACOR, EMIGRANT, ADOPEC...
ADOPEC...
- ADOPEC.
- There's the DO of MODO.
ADO... MODO.
There's the DO and P.
The P... for 'para'.
Para. And where do you get
the 'ara' for 'para'?
From ARABIC, Voltrano's oil company.
- You're right!
- Thanks. And there's B... ARAB.
Para b...?
- 'Buscar'?
- Well done!
"Todo modo para buscar!"
Now you must know...
that Saint Ignatius' sentence
is very long.
Keep an eye on the survivors,
- before the slaughter starts again.
- What do I tell Rome?
"Todo modo para buscar la voluntad divina?"
- They'll laugh at me.
- Why?
- It's not plausible.
- Are the events of the last 10 years...
plausible, in your opinion?
It's time for the rosary. Let's go.
Todo Modo is an integralist creed.
It could be the opposite.
They could be extremists disguised
as reactionaries.
Come in... there's another victim.
The sixth. The Hon. Capra Porfiri.
Before lifting restrictions, you must notify the Commissioner,
and explain the acronyms.
The murderer could even be Saint Ignatius!
- Where are you going?
- You'll see.
- Where?
- It's a surprise.
Must I tell everything I've discovered?
Demolish the castle?
Must we surrender to the enemy?
Overturn the pyramid?
Class relations?
Change, change, change...
Change culture...
change everything?
"Todo modo para buscar la voluntad divina"
And what is the divine will?
It's not the soul or the intellect.
Not imagination, or opinion.
Nor reason, nor thought.
It's not a number, or order.
Largeness or smallness...
Equality or inequality.
It's not alive, nor is it life.
It's not space, matter, science.
It's not goodness, or truth.
Neither darkness, nor light.
Neither error, nor truth.
I'm a politician; I need concrete clues.
You're like other men.
Do you love power?
Yes, magmatically.
Can you give it up?
To whom? There's no-one better.
I think I have a mission to accomplish.
Do you have the stigmata?
Yes...
Yes... sometimes I think I can see them.
Yes, look, even now...
See?
I don't see them.
You're like the rest.
You follow their example.
Stop faking.
No, I'm not like the rest.
I'm different!
I'm not greedy or arrogant.
I'm not a hypocrite.
Im an honest person. I don't steal.
I keep my word...
Tell me that I'm not like the rest.
You're like your voters:
cynical and savage.
Follow your mandate;
we'll fall together.
You and your rich impostors, who keep you
in power, to save them from the poor.
And I, with my stupid flock,
innocent and sinful,
who expect from me the viaticum
for the next life.
You don't love me anymore.
No... you don't love me anymore!
I know... priests are a hindrance.
Confess me... for the last time.
I have the feeling this is our last meeting.
No. I couldn't give you absolution.
You must give me absolution. You must!
Let go!
Think what we represent,
what we are.
You cry like a snivelling woman.
No, no...
To continue, I need your absolution.
What are we without you,
and you without us?
- They...
- I cannot.
Then give me back Voltrano's letter.
Of my own free will.
It's a big decision,
full of meaning, but urgent, right?
- Hon. Bastante?
- Present.
Professor Bastante...
tell me the acronyms of your companies.
As chairman?
Also as vice-chairman,
member of the board, etc, etc.
FARCIP... INALO...
- Thirty billion!
- CIA, PRIAP...
Also PALLOP...
MACRED... ULOP...
- And ITOR.
- You've left one out:
PANSIDER, 50 billion turnover.
Did you forget it?
Yes... PANSIDER. Sorry.
That's all I remember.
- Professor...
- Yes, Mr. President?
Unfortunately... you're on the list.
- Are you sure?
- Sad but true.
- Impossible!
- I'm afraid not...
The 'AR' in FARCIP... puts you in danger.
Danger, you say?
Yes, danger. Do you follow me?
- P...P...Perfectly.
Then I'd advise you to put yourself at the disposal of Arras.
- At their disposal?
- Yes. For your own sake.
- For my sake?
- For your sake.
Where are you taking me?
I'm not ashamed of my democratic past!
I've served my country for 30 years...
- Caprarozza?
- Present.
Your acronyms, please.
AMPER, PEROD, MATER, MASS...
- 25 million!
- 30 million!
ENPEP.
Excuse me, how do you write it?
E...N...P...E...P...
Slowly, please repeat it.
- E... N...
- N for Naples?
- No, Bari.
- B for Bari...
No... P...
- B? - No, P!
What does it stand for?
"Employers National Providential
Emolument Plan."
He doesn't have to worry, right?
I want to go home to Bari.
- You can't leave.
- No, I have to go.
I must leave. I don't want to stay here!
- Enough!
- I don't want to die!
Excuse me. I must go to Rovigo.
Take a seat.
We're up to the letter 'L'.
Mr. President... Rovigo...
- There are three Lombos,
aren't there? - Yes.
- Alfredo?
- Absent.
- Aldo?
- Present.
Tell me your acronyms, please.
MITRA, LOGI, TROP, MIG, TUTTOGAS.
- 23 billion!
- FADER, TULIP, MAGIC, FINS...
That's not all, Lombo.
You... and your brother have shady dealings
with FARGIP for 30 billion a year.
So? It's only a consultancy.
After all, you too, Schiavo,
were a consultant...
- for Michelozzi's FITOD.
- Yes. And for URCEP, too.
That goes for Caprarozza too.
He was chairman.
But TUTTOGAS owned 50% of URCEP,
and was connected to Voltrano's ARABIC,
which owned 68% of the shares
in TUTTOGAS.
Therefore, Caprarozza is in danger.
So am I, as chairman of VISIR,
which owns the biggest parcel
of shares in TULIP,
which is controlled by CROMOR,
through the Modern Bank.
You poor hypocrites. This is the point:
we are all in danger,
myself included,
because involuntarily,
I'm your accomplice.
My soul is... embittered.
I'm... devastated.
- Devastated, my foot!
- No, I am.
I'm really devastated.
You're always saying you're
pained, mortified...
You've tricked us!
You've tricked us,
with your fake sadness.
You're always crying...
Where have you been,
these last 30 years?
Minister five times,
Internal Affairs four times!
- You've had us marked!
- And your brother? Your brother-in-law?
Tell us about EPRAS and MIAOP.
Your father-in-law's a prefect,
your brother-in-law's a general,
and I'm your sister's husband!
Shame on you!
Why don't you tell us about your
secret meetings?
Maybe this is a trap for all of us.
It's absurd! Our President is blameless.
It's defamation.
Cowards! Murderers!
Murderers!
It's nothing...
- What?
- Nothing.
Normal factional fighting.
Don't worry.
I didn't shoot! I didn't.
No, he didn't shoot.
Now the brothers will rise again, right?
Nothing's happened. It's normal.
Look! Look at the TV!
Look at the TV!
- All's well...
- They shot from there.
They shot Don Gaetano.
They've killed him.
He's in the crypt.
Don Gaetano is dead.
You've killed him!
There he is.
Dear God!
This gun has been fired once.
- I heard only one shot.
- I heard three shots.
No, only one shot.
Definitely suicide.
Yes, suicide...
Why?
Why did he commit suicide?
Why?
That's worth a fortune.
It was auctioned three years ago,
for 50 million.
- This is worth 30 million.
- More like 40.
Nothing apocalyptic.
So, a priest who only acknowledges
divine authority,
on feeling condemned by men too, goes insane.
- Correct.
- Perfect!
He takes revenge on his political enemies.
He kills them.
He kills them one by one... correct?
- May we?
- Please.
Then conscience-stricken, who knows,
he atones and kills himself
with his own hand.
Because he would never have
given any man...
the right to judge him,
and sentence him. Correct?
- Correct.
- We are grateful.
We know that often the great mystics,
as history tells us,
free themselves into the dark
world of madness.
In short, for a priest,
what better occasion...
than spiritual exercises,
to commit a massacre?
Come on, gentlemen -
it's a unique occasion.
Don't be afraid. Come on.
There...
A small personal archive.
Here's the Hon. Voltrano.
Lombo, Mr. President?
The Hon. Ventre...
Caprarozza...
Sorry to tell you, but you were to
the right of Michelozzi.
- No!
- Please... give me a hand.
It's even embarrassing.
- He was about to go abroad?
- Yes.
Yes...
Third and last day
Mother of Christ...
Can a mother... commit the worst of sins?
Suckle...
For power... glory...
honours... and a 7-year mandate.
Cavour...
Garibaldi...
- Excellency, we're late.
- Very well.
Well then... I'm going.
I know everything!
Excuse me.
Well... we're leaving...
But where are we going?
- Who are you?
- Fear not... I'm the cook.
A recommendation...
A little recommendation for my son?
I don't... fine.
- Who are they?
- Epidemic Control workers.
Ah, the epidemic!
- How many dead?
- 58.
- 48?
- No, 58. - 38?
Look...
I'll post him to the Merchant Navy...
My God!
Why do you give me such frights?
I don't understand why this dear friend...
has always had a taste for the macabre.
You too, Dr. Scalambri...?
Don't you remember? Para b... para b...?
The baptism...
I'm to be the godfather,
and you do this...
There's the young man from Rovigo...
We'll send him back to Rovigo.
Ah, the Professor... Professor...
Our...
Father... who art...
This is a war...
I'm the Minister of Internal Affairs,
and if I tell you to shoot, shoot!
How many workers...
were killed in Modena?
Nine...
Then let's make it ten...
Really, Di Mario!
To hold on to power...
Not to relinquish power...
Get up!
Get up!
Now, you can kill me too.
Our...
Father... who art...
in heaven...
hallowed be...
Thy name.
Thy...
kingdom come...
Thy...
will be done...
for CG - May 2009