Dead in Red: Bellocchio Returns to Infamous Kidnapping for Television Debut

In his continuation in recuperating fantastical elements of Italian political and criminal history, Marco Bellocchio returns to territory he’s covered before in Esterno Notte, the auteur’s first stint in television as a five-hour plus six episode event dealing with several main players in the wake of the 1978 kidnapping and assassination of Prime Minister Aldo Moro. It’s no surprise to find Bellocchio in top form dealing with material he’s keenly fascinated by, this time taking significant liberties with this semi-fictionalized account.

Co-written by noted television scribes Stefano Bises (The New Pope) and Davide Serino (who penned the series 1992 and 1993 inspired by Italy’s political turmoil in the early part of that decade) plus Ludovica Rampoldi (co-writer on Bellocchio’s phenomenal The Traitor – (read review), it’s a meaty dive into the underbelly of governmental discord during the Years of Lead.