Le mani sulla città: Rosi's film foretold Mafia Capitale scandal

Francesco Rosi's 1963 film 'Le mani sulla città', winner of the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, predicted the systemic corruption later exposed by the 2014 'Mafia Capitale' scandal in Rome. The film, written with Raffaele La Capria, follows unscrupulous councilor and builder Edoardo Nottola (played by Rod Steiger) who manipulates politics and real estate for profit. It depicts a cynical alliance between right-wing speculators, left-wing idealists, and a morally flexible center. Fifty-one years after its release, the film's themes of collusion between public and private interests, vote-buying, and speculative urban expansion remain relevant. On November 18, 2014, the film was released on DVD by Mustang Entertainment. Two weeks later, the 'Mafia Capitale' investigation broke, revealing a vast corruption network involving politicians, entrepreneurs, and organized crime, including former mayor Gianni Alemanno and Massimo Carminati. The scandal centered on rigged contracts and bribes in Rome, echoing the film's depiction of Naples. Rosi's work is described as a 'film-oracle' that continues to expose Italy's endemic corruption, where politics and morality remain parallel lines. The article reflects on the persistence of corruption from the 1960s through the 1990s (Craxi's 1992 speech) to the present, calling for structural reforms rather than moral appeals.