100
Time Out by Joshua Rothkopf
Stunning, eerily atmospheric.
Videocracy
Critic Rating
(read reviews)User Rating
- Sweden,
- Denmark,
- United Kingdom,
- Finland
- 2009
- · 85m
Director
Erik Gandini
Cast
Silvio Berlusconi,
Flavio Briatore,
Fabrizio Corona,
Lele Mora,
Simona Ventura,
Marella Giovannelli
Genre
Documentary
In a country where bella figura is a national pastime, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is the maestro of media manipulation. Having risen to political primacy with the aid of his Mediaset empire, he now controls 90% of the country's television channels including the state-run RAI network. However, quantity, it seems, does not equal quality...
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What are critics saying?
91
The A.V. Club by Noel Murray
If a team of clever screenwriters tried to script a cautionary tale about the politics of fame (and the fame of politics), they likely couldn’t come up with anything odder or more apt than Erik Gandini’s documentary Videocracy.
70
The New York Times by Manohla Dargis
Given the stakes, it’s hard not to wish that Mr. Gandini had been more ambitious: at 85 minutes, Videocracy can only scratch the surface. Even so, after watching it, you realize that even a cursory look at Mr. Berlusconi is crucial to understanding an age in which celebrity is now the coin of the realm.
60
The Hollywood Reporter
Morbidly fascinating Swedish doc about Berlusconi's Italy hits the mark.
60
The Hollywood Reporter by Deborah Young
Morbidly fascinating Swedish doc about Berlusconi's Italy hits the mark.
50
Salon by Andrew O'Hehir
Gandini makes it seem as if the nation of Dante and Fellini has been conquered by "Girls Gone Wild." As hyperbolic cases go, that's a pretty delicious one, but it's not quite true yet.
40
Variety
Rather than presenting a well-argued expose of the disturbing symbiosis that exists between Italo politics and TV, with Prime Minister Berlusconi being only the most obvious connection, the scribe-helmer gets sidetracked by marginal characters while keeping bare facts to a minimum.
40
New York Daily News by Elizabeth Weitzman
Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi is an ideal documentary subject, but Erik Gandini's jumbled take on Berlusconi's corrupting influence quickly shifts from good idea to wasted opportunity.
40
Variety by Boyd van Hoeij
Rather than presenting a well-argued expose of the disturbing symbiosis that exists between Italo politics and TV, with Prime Minister Berlusconi being only the most obvious connection, the scribe-helmer gets sidetracked by marginal characters while keeping bare facts to a minimum.
30
Village Voice
Videocracy is hopelessly infected with the very prurience it means to expose--again and again, Gandini returns to images of pretty women grinding away for the camera in hopes of scoring their 15 minutes.
30
Village Voice by Ella Taylor
Videocracy is hopelessly infected with the very prurience it means to expose--again and again, Gandini returns to images of pretty women grinding away for the camera in hopes of scoring their 15 minutes.
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