[Spoiler-Free] Starring Kim Rossi Stuart, Maltese - Il romanzo del Commissario is an excellent Italian crime drama in the vein of La Piovra.
1976.
Dario Maltese, an elite cop with a painful past, works in Rome. He returns to his hometown of Trapani (in Sicily) to attend the wedding of his best friend
Gianni Peralta, who's a senior police force member too. In the train, Dario meets photographer
Elisa Ripstein. When Peralta and his bride are gunned down, Maltese asks to be transferred to Trapani in order to investigate. A local newspaper suggests that the Peralta murder is a crime of passion but the
commissario is convinced that Gianni was killed by the Mafia.
Maltese - Il romanzo del Commissario is a
4 x 90-minute miniseries written by
Leonardo Fasoli & Maddalena Ravagli, the scriptwriters of the series
Gomorra, with
Gianluca Maria Tavarelli. Tavarelli, the helmer of
Il giovane Montalbano, also masterfully directs. Pubcaster
Rai 1 aired the first episode on Monday and the second on Wednesday.
Maltese is a co-production between
RAI Fiction and
Carlo Degli Esposti's
Palomar (
Inspector Montalbano,
I delitti del Barlume,
Braccialetti rossi) with German indie
Maze Pictures,
ZDF Enterprises and
Dramedy Productions. The talented
Kim Rossi Stuart based his performance as the tenacious Dario Maltese on real-life cop
Ninni Cassarà, murdered by the Cosa nostra in 1985.
The character reminds of
Corrado Cattani, the policeman portrayed by
Michele Placido in
RAI's classic
La Piovra (1984) and three of its sequels, with some shades of
Salvo Montalbano. The very good cast includes
Rike Schmid (Elisa Ripstein),
Francesco Scianna as journalist
Mauro Licatta,
Antonio Milo (
Saverio Mandara),
Marco Leonardi,
Roberto Nobile (
Il Commissario Montalbano) as
Police Commissioner Aldo Saura, etc. With the participation of
Eros Pagni (
Prosecutor Leonci),
Michela Cescon (
Gabriella Montano) and
Valeria Solarino (
Giulia Melendez). The impressive cinematography is by
Marco Pieroni. German composer and music producer
Ralf Hildenbeutel did the sublime score.
Produced by Carlo Degli Esposti and
Nicola Serra with
Max Gusberti.
Marco Camilli,
Margherita Murollo & Luigi Pinto are the producers for Palomar, and
Giuzzi Buondonno & Filippo Rizzello produce for
RAI.
Patrizia Massa exec produces. Filmed with the support of the
Lazio Region and the
European Union. A RAI Fiction presentation distributed by ZDF Enterprises.
http://www.corriere.it/spettacoli/17_maggio_05/mio-maltese-si-ispira-cassara-storia-mafia-mai-raccontata-452703f0-30e5-11e7-a448-9b138eb1814c.shtml
