Videocracy

How can you explain what’s happened to Italy in the age of its current prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi? Videocracy is director Erik Gandini’s critically-acclaimed inquiry into the mercenary underbelly of the high-glitz, low-politics, skin-baring media culture promulgated by Berlusconi’s ownership of the majority of the country’s television stations — a powerful tool in shaping public opinion to his financial and political benefit. Approaching the material as both insider and outsider, Gandini (Gitmo: The New Rule of War) gains remarkable access to the opulent world of Berlusconi’s associates and the armies of willing wannabes that swarm around them, examining the key players (and their conflicted interests) and unveiling a modern Italy as both comedy and tragedy.