21 January,2011 06:51 AM IST | | Agencies
Sex-hungry politician in new Italian comedy movie Qualunquemente draws comparisons with scandal-plagued Silvio Berlusconi
A new Italian film portrays a flashy politician who loves easy sex and hates justice, but with the real prime minister embroiled in a prostitution scandal, critics say political reality is looking stranger than fiction.
The movie Qualunquemente hits Italian theatres this week, just as Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi battles a growing storm over allegations that he paid for sex with prostitutes.
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi holds his face in his hand at the Villa Madama in Rome as he arrives for a meeting with Slovenia's President Danilo Turk
He says the charges are absurd and dreamed up by biased magistrates.
The film revolves around Cetto La Qualunque, a small-time fugitive who returns to his hometown in the southern region of Calabria and runs for mayor to combat what he considers a dangerous wave of law and order sweeping the coastal town.
Flanked by half-naked women, Cetto goes on the campaign trail with the intentionally shocking slogan "I have no dream, but I like p'''y."
Off the trail, Cetto parties with topless women in a hot tub, frequents prostitutes and admiringly tells a bikini-clad woman, "Your lovely body qualifies you for town councillor."
Coming just as Italy grapples with leaked accounts of wild 'bunga bunga' parties at Berlusconi's home with prostitutes, the film has drawn sizable attention and more than a few snickers.
Complete fiction
"The filmmaker assures us it is a 'very funny' film, but the truth is that there's little to laugh at because realityu00a0 now, more than ever has vastly overtaken fiction," film critic Fulvia Caprara wrote in a newspaper.
"The vulgar horrors on the screen are nothing compared to those we see mentioned in the accounts leaked to newspapers."
Comedian Antonio Albanese, who co-wrote the script and stars as Cetto, says the character was not influenced in the slightest by Berlusconi.
Indeed, the character was first created for a television show in 2003.
"I wanted to explain our country. It has disappointing things," he said. "But by making it funny, we can make the next generation understand that these people are ridiculous, that they are bad examples."
Impeccable in purple or white-striped suits, Cetto rants against justice ("Makes me sick'), taxes ("Like drugs") and culture, preferring prostitutes, golden bathtubs and a South American girlfriend who usurps his long-suffering wife's place.
Despite the filmmakers' denial of any links, some details in the film will be familiar to anyone following politics.
When police show up at Cetto's mayoral inauguration ceremony, he accuses the judiciary of trying to subvert the vote echoing a familiar complaint by Berlusconi.
Albanese agrees the release of the film, directed by Giulio Manfredonia, came at the right time.
