Draquila – Italy Trembles

Cannes (Special Screening) – Best known to we in the UK for his porno pool parties, his pirate-inspired holiday headgear, and for royally pissing off our own Royalty, it is easy for us to dismiss Silvio Berlusconi as a tittersome fool. Yet, as Paul Martin discovers, for those living under his governance in Italy the only comedy is of the black and bitter variety.

There has been a pair of endlessly recurring criticisms regarding the movies selected for this year's Cannes Film Festival. One is certainly valid, one is perhaps a tad unfair. Draquila – Italy Trembles can dismiss both with the most casual of shrugs.

The accusation impossible to mount a convincing defence of pertains to female filmmakers, specifically their shameful shortage amongst the ranks of directors invited to showcase their movies at Cannes 2010. Well, don't let the organisers catch on, but the individual at the helm of Draquila is indeed a woman, namely Italian satirical comic Sabina Guzzanti. And boy oh boy, is she ever in rabble-rousing mood.

Which takes us neatly on to the way that Draquila manages to thwart the second widely-paraded Cannes criticism; that this year's programme of films are not a batch to trigger much in the way of anticipatory salivation. Guzzanti's documentary is exempt from being tarred with this brush too, as its content – a passionate and aggressive attack on Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi – has been trailed as being so politically incendiary as to have already triggered a diplomatic incident. That's right, the decision to include Draquila at Cannes 2010 resulted in Italy's culture minister Sandro Bondi refusing an invite to the fest. This snub has not only sent the organisers of those buzzing early-hours Croisette shindigs into mourning (any pal of Silvio's has just got to be a 24-hour party animal, right?), it has also been described as “puerile, infantile and capricious” by Bondi's French counterpart, Jack Lang.

The film's title is a punning marriage of Dracula (obviously) to L'Aquila, the capital of the Abruzzo region of central Italy. It is a marriage which Guzzanti argues came into actuality in April 2009, when a major earthquake struck the town, leaving it weak and easy prey for an opportunistic bloodsucker – a role gladly taken by Berlusconi. Though the tremor claimed 308 lives, Draquila – Italy Trembles suggests what happened next was even more devastating. The town as it had been was effectively condemned to historical oblivion by the actions of those with responsibility for trying to rebuild it.

With his popularity scuttled by corruption allegations and sex scandals, Berlusconi saw the damaged streets of L'Aquila as the perfect platform on which to rebuild his image. He promptly sprang into action, making visit after visit after visit, seemingly acting as the rock on whom those displaced into temporary tented settlements could lean for caring support. However Guzzanti's movie claims that even this cynical bid to restore his standing with the electorate was not the real scandal of L'Aquila.

No, having passed legislation allowing the government to suspend all normal checks and balances in the event of a disaster or 'big event' (which we learn extends even to such seemingly innocuous happenings as a Papal visit), Berlusconi and cronies like Guido Bertolaso saw the damage caused by the quake as a financial opportunity. Four days after the catastrophe a new house-building scheme was announced by the PM for uprooted residents, with Guzzanti arguing that this plan swiftly became a bonfire on which public cash and the hopes of the citizens of L'Aquila proceeded to burn spectacularly.

For a documentary which delves into the murky netherworld of political corruption, Draquila displays admirable nimbleness in avoiding getting too bogged down in arcane complexities. The myriad charges that Guzzanti levels at Berlusconi, from massive fraud to Mafia collaboration, are clearly expressed and illustrated with forceful simplicity. There is plenty of testimony that does the gaffe-prone prime minister no favours, even when it comes from the mouths of those ostensibly speaking on his behalf, and there are rib-tickling satirical nuggets too, such as when Berlusconi delivers a ludicrously fulsome tribute in honour of George W. Bush, or when the gobsmackingly massive sums lavished on ashtrays, towels and potted plants during the L'Aquila-staged G8 summit are totted up.

But although this is both an engaging and interesting film, it is weakened by those moments when it does not simply indict the Berlusconi regime but also airs its own political convictions. Why is this an issue? Because it makes the movie, so well constructed in other areas, appear motivated less by understandable outrage at Berlusconi's misdeeds and more by pushing a dogmatically Leftist agenda. So while viewers from across the political spectrum will be turned off by the reptilian corruption Guzzanti attributes to the Italian PM, there will be far fewer nods of agreement and plenty of bemused expressions when she expresses exasperation that the Italian populace cannot see how their society works with the same clarity she commands. It is an attitude every bit as patronising as the ridiculous rules in the L'Aquila tent encampments that see caffeine banned for fear it will overexcite the residents.

The suspicion therefore must be that Draquila – Italy Trembles will win admirers for its accessible and intelligent approach, while failing to assuage any doubts regarding its balance and fairness.

Rating on a scale of 5 bites on the neck: 3

Release date: TBC
Directed by: Sabina Guzzanti
Written by: Sabina Guzzanti
Cast: Silvio Berlusconi, Sabina Guzzanti, Guido Bertolaso
Rating: TBC
Running time: 90 minutes