Netflix Documentary Explores Silvio Berlusconi's Legacy

Netflix has released the documentary film "My Way. Berlusconi in his own words," directed by Antongiulio Panizzi and produced by Leone Film Group. The film is based on a book by American journalist Alan Friedman, known in Italy for the program "Maastricht – Italia" co-signed with Minoli in the late 1990s. Friedman recently left Rizzoli for Newton Compton. The documentary portrays the full figure of the Cavaliere—his origins as an entrepreneur and politician, his lights and shadows—and presents him as a figure of the past, granting him the honor of arms but relegating him to a bygone era. It includes Berlusconi's famous witticisms, his relationship with AC Milan and the public, his frequent excuses, and deceptions, with little self-criticism. Notably, Jacopo Jacoboni wrote in La Stampa that Berlusconi claims he was ousted by a coup orchestrated by foreign powers during the 2011 European financial crisis, when leaders of France and Germany tried to convince President Barack Obama to help remove him. Former Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Zapatero partially confirmed this in an interview. The article suggests that Berlusconi's exit marked a transition from the age of vertical propaganda via TV to viral black propaganda, distinguishing him from Donald Trump. The Guardian's Stephanie Kirchgaessner recently compared Trump to Berlusconi, calling them "two showmen who have lashed out against immigrants, mocked women, targeted press freedom, made of the same cloth."