The History of Poliziotteschi: Italian Crime Films as the Reflection of the Social and Cultural Processes of the 1970s

Abstract

One of the most traumatic periods in Italian history was the “Years of Lead”, roughly from 1968 to 1980. This decade was marked by an unprecedented rise of politically motivated violence, unemployment and corruption scandals. These socio-cultural shifts were reflected not only in auteur films by prominent directors, but also in narrative pictures of various sub-genres, be that spaghettiwesterns, giallos, or poliziotteschi.
Poliziotteschi were crime films featuring street and organized crime, terrorism and corruption. Many researchers are still not sure whether it is a standalone genre or virtually any criminal film can qualify as a poliziottesco. There is no real consensus on this issue either among academics, or cinephiles, which sometimes makes it difficult to categorize a certain film.
Although academic researchers tend to look down upon these films, because they rarely meet the high aesthetic standards set by Italian renowned filmmakers, it’s the poliziotteschi, that, while remaining fundamentally entertaining, captured the traumatic experience of Italian society like no other films made in those years. They portrayed, allegorically or literally, the real key events of the time as well as those invented. One could argue that watching these films represented a cathartic ritual of exposure (conspiracies) or retribution (vengeance taken by Lone Avengers), whereas their creation was similar to the artistic evocation of the collective unconscious: traumas, fears, hopes and hidden desires.
Anyway, studying poliziotteschi helps find new ways of assessing academically marginalized films of the same kind made in other countries during traumatic and dramatic historical periods