Monday, November 20, 2006

The Caiman

I have just returned from the Ljubljana Film Festival.
Tonight I was watching the movie The Caiman by Nanni Moretti.
The message I got is quite scary.
During the trial, the Caiman was doing anything to avoid it. Mainly he did not show up left the court early saying that he has some urgent things to do. He was also telling the DA who asked him about his hidden acounts in Switzerland to stop politicizing; that if she wants to politicize, she should leave the court and try to become elected and then face him. When she reminded the court that above them there is a sign saying that everybody is equal in the court of law, he replied that this is so, but that he is more equal as he has been elected by the people, and so on.
In the end the of a long trial, the Caiman (Berlusconi) says (more or less): I can only be tried by the people who elected me, not by some judges. And when he is found guilty, he declares that the democracy came to an end and the country is now facing autocrative regime. He invites the people to do anything they want to overturn this new autocratic regime. And when the judges try to exit the courthouse, they are facing an angry mob who start to throw Molotov coctails at them and burn the courthouse.
As it seems that there are politicians in this country who might see a role model in Berlusconi, the message of this movie (no matter how ironic it is) scares me: that some 21st century politician might actually think that he is above law, that the third, judicial branch of the government is irrelevant. That he cannot be touched. And that there even might be people who would follow his appeal.

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