Film Review: The Mattei Affair (Il caso Mattei, 1972)

The recent declassification of U.S. government documents pertaining to the assassination of John F. Kennedy underscores a persistent human fascination with unresolved tragedies that intertwine politics, corporate power, and criminality. Such mysteries, marked by lingering questions and shadowy conspiracies, retain their grip on the public imagination decades later. Italy’s First Republic, a period of economic prosperity overshadowed by political dysfunction, produced its own share of enigmatic events, none more emblematic than the death of Enrico Mattei. Occurring a year before the assassination in Dallas, Mattei’s 1962 plane crash remains a symbol of Italy’s tangled web of power struggles. Francesco Rosi’s The Mattei Affair (1972), a Palme d’Or-winning film, masterfully intertwines docudrama, biopic, and political thriller to dissect this pivotal moment. The film’s enduring relevance lies in its unflinching exploration of how ambition, corruption, and geopolitical intrigue can coalesce into a national tragedy.

The film opens on 27 October 1962, when a small aircraft carrying Enrico Mattei (Gian Maria Volonte), chairman of Italy’s state-owned petroleum giant ENI, crashes near Milan, killing him and two others. Framed as a fictionalised 1970 investigation led by Rosi himself, the narrative weaves together interviews with real-life figures—including politicians, journalists, and witnesses—and flashbacks to Mattei’s career. These segments reveal Mattei’s meteoric rise from a WW2 anti-Fascist partisan to a Christian Democrat politician. Appointed to liquidate the state-owned petroleum company AGIP, Mattei instead transformed it into ENI, leveraging methane gas discoveries in the Po Valley to fuel Italy’s post-war economic miracle, while gaining immense power and turning the company into something Italians called “state within the state”. His vision of energy independence clashed with the “Seven Sisters,” powerful U.S. oil conglomerates, and his pragmatic alliances with Soviet and Arab nations—despite ideological differences—alienated both foreign and domestic adversaries. By the time of his death, Mattei was a polarising figure: a visionary who defied Western capitalist norms, yet a ruthless operator with countless enemies. The film hints at the mid-air bomb explosion theory, now widely accepted in Italy, casting the crash as a potential assassination.

Francesco Rosi’s approach to blending fact and fiction stems from his earlier work, notably Salvatore Giuliano (1961), a biopic of a Sicilian bandit that fused documentary realism with political allegory. By the late 1960s, Rosi collaborated with Mauro De Mauro, a journalist investigating Mattei’s death. De Mauro’s research, which suggested Mafia involvement, proved perilous: he was kidnapped in 1970 and never found. His absence looms over the film, where he appears as a character played by Aldo Barberito. This real-world tragedy amplified the film’s urgency, positioning it as Italy’s answer to the JFK assassination mythos—a catalyst for endless speculation. Rosi’s decision to cast real individuals (e.g., politicians, journalists) in self-portrayals and employ non-professional actors rooted the story in authenticity, a hallmark of his neorealist roots.

Rosi’s narrative structure draws inspiration from Citizen Kane, centring on an investigator (Rosi himself) reconstructing events through interviews. The film’s interviews with those who knew Mattei—often evasive or contradictory—mirror Charles Foster Kane’s newsreel retrospective. Flashbacks, however, feature Mattei engaging in confrontational dialogues with journalists, offering exposition on his political and economic strategies. These sequences highlight his charisma and strategic brilliance, such as his negotiation tactics or his defiance of U.S. oil interests. The dual timeline—past and present—creates a tension between memory and truth, underscoring how power structures obscure accountability.

Gian Maria Volonté, known for playing villains in classic spaghetti Westerns, delivers a career-defining performance as Mattei. He portrays the ENI chairman as a complex figure: a nationalist idealist driven by pragmatism and self-interest. Volonté captures Mattei’s calculated charm and unapologetic ruthlessness, such as when he dismisses ethical concerns to secure energy deals. The film offers little insight into Mattei’s personal life beyond his marital status and a wry comment about his fondness women while discovering pin-up photos in workers’ rooms during a rig tour. This omission reflects Mattei’s singular focus on his mission, yet it leaves room for audience speculation about his psyche. The tragic irony of Volonté’s later role as Aldo Moro in The Moro Affair (1992)—another political thriller about a high-profile kidnapping—adds a meta-layer to his portrayal, as if fate bound him to play Italy’s martyred leaders.

The film elevates Mattei beyond a national hero into a symbol of Third World liberation. His alliances with Arab nations and Soviet bloc countries are framed as defiance against Western imperialism, culminating in his final quote: “”I will continue all over the world to fight against this absurd monopoly and if I do not succeed, those peoples who have oil under their feet will.” This line positions Mattei as an early advocate of resource sovereignty, aligning him with post-colonial movements. Yet the film’s idealism occasionally strains credibility, as Mattei’s pragmatic alliances—such as his support for Algerian rebels—were as much about securing oil access as altruism. This tension between principle and expediency defines his legacy.

While Volonté’s performance anchors the film, its structure occasionally falters. The opening scenes, which juxtapose the crash and the 1970 investigation, can feel disjointed, and the tonal shifts between dramatic reenactments and dry interviews risk alienating viewers. Rosi’s reliance on tatic dialogue scenes may test modern audiences accustomed to faster-paced thrillers. Yet these flaws are mitigated by the film’s intellectual ambition and emotional core.

Piero Piccioni’s score, heavy with industrial sounds and ominous strings, reinforces the film’s themes of mechanisation and political machinery. The music mirrors the relentless pursuit of progress embodied by ENI, while the dissonant tones evoke the moral ambiguity of Mattei’s world. This sonic backdrop enhances the film’s oppressive atmosphere, particularly in scenes depicting corporate boardrooms or political negotiations.

A notable technical detail occurs during Mattei’s flight over Yugoslavia, where his plane is intercepted by fighter jets. The pilots demand a landing in Belgrade, but Mattei resolves the standoff by invoking his friendship with powerful Yugoslav politician Aleksandar Ranković (who was deposed during the time of production). However, eagle-eyed viewers notice the jets lack Yugoslav insignia and are actually Italian Aermacchi MB-326 trainers—a nod to the film’s Italian production context. Such anachronisms, though minor, reveal the constraints of 1970s filmmaking.

The film’s U.S. release suffered due to censorship by Paramount Pictures, which allegedly suppressed it due to ties with Gulf Oil, one of the “Seven Sisters.” This real-world parallel to the film’s narrative—a corporation stifling truth—adds a layer of irony.

Director Oliver Stone cited The Mattei Affair as a template for his 1991 film JFK, which similarly blends fact, fiction, and conspiracy. Both films use fragmented narratives to question official accounts of political assassinations, employing interviews and reenactments to critique institutional cover-ups. Rosi’s influence underscores the global resonance of such storytelling, proving that unresolved mysteries transcend borders.

Half a century later, The Mattei Affair remains startlingly relevant. Its themes of energy independence, corporate greed, and geopolitical intrigue echo in modern crises like the Nord Stream pipeline sabotage and the climate crisis. Mattei’s defiance of Western oil giants mirrors contemporary struggles against fossil fuel monopolies, while his alliances with Arab states prefigure today’s shifting energy alliances. The film’s exploration of how power structures obscure truth feels prescient in an era of disinformation and opaque global politics.

RATING: 7/10 (+++)

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