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WHY THE PRIME MINISTER OF TITS AND ASS HAD THE LATTER HANDED TO HIM

Yesterday's Berlusconi attack may seem like a knee-slapper, but only for those of us who haven't realized that no matter how much he deserved it, getting a miniature Duomo kamikaze'd into his face will only give that asshole more power. Now the opposition will treat him like an injured man and most Italians will consider him a victim and a hero. Basically any criticism of Berlusconi from here on out equals smashing a 70-year-old man in the face with a rock. Great. Does this mean the tens of thousands of people demonstrating during the

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"No Berlusconi Day"

will be viewed as terrorists? Sure, it sounds overly extreme, but remember Raimondo Mesian? The judge who condemned the Berlusconi-owned Fininvest for corruption? The guy was followed around by Berlusconi-owned Canale 5 and made fun of for his "extravagant" habits (smoking a lot and wearing turquoise socks)? And what's up with former showgirl and lad-mag model, Mara Carfagna (pictured above) being Minister for Equal Opportunities? Sure, you can laugh at it all, but the sad truth is that you simply can't win. That's why seeing

Videocracy

by Swedish-Italian documentary maker Erik Gandini was such a relief. It begins with an excerpt from

Spogliamoci Insieme

(Let's get naked together), the 1977 TV show in which housewives took off their clothes, and which kicked off Berlusconi's media empire and cultural devolution. Erik Gandini calls it, "the destruction of democracy by tits and ass." Ever since, Il Presidente has conquered the hearts and minds of millions of voters. I mean viewers.

Videocracy

brilliantly pins down how Berlusconi, by (pretty much) owning the Italian media, is distracting people from politics with half-naked women and general trash. I packed my stuff and moved to Sweden soon after seeing it and had a chat with Erik Gandini about it.

Hi Erik, thanks for making this documentary. Why'd you do it? Erik Gandini:

In my eyes, Italians have undergone a 30-year-long cultural experiment. It's fascinating and at the same time scary how people's priorities and values have been radically manipulated by Italian TV and I had to learn more about it.

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So you contacted Berlusconi's VIP talent-agent buddy, Lele Mora?

Yes, and, proud of the foreign attention, Lele invited me to his Sardinian mansion. His job is to make people famous by prompting their actions, look, and statements. Him and Berlusconi hang out at the same clubs there in Sardinia. I'll never forget how his face lit up when his fascist ring tone went off.

That's a classic scene.

I was overwhelmed and just kept filming. He was relaxed, totally underestimating the effect that scene would have on screen. These people are used to being admired, no matter what.

Tell me about Fabrizio Corona, Lele Mora's protégé who just got sentenced to nearly four years in jail.

He's a paparazzi photographer who was convicted for blackmailing celebrities, but he has been able to turn the situation around and now people pay to shake his hand. He's considered inspirational because he has money, women, muscles, and tattoos: a fake hero. Maybe even the most eloquent product of this experiment.

How has Videocracy been received so far?

In Italy, Rai (Italian public television) wouldn't even let us show the

trailer

because, according to them, it was offensive to the Prime Minister. But then of course people started getting curious about "the censored trailer." It's ironic because it's exactly what my movie is about: getting visibility for being controversial. Also, a prime-time Berlusconi-owned news program told millions of viewers that the documentary wasn't credible.

Haha. Score! On a more serious note, does it scare you that, according to the BBC, 80% of all Italians claim television as their main source of information?

I grew up watching television ruin my generation. Riccardo, featured in

Videocracy

, is a perfect example of this. He's a factory worker who hits the TV castings mixing kung fu with La Vida Loca, but never gets chosen. So he has to be content with being a dead-meat member of the TV audience, which he's not. At all. He's ashamed of his real job and thinks that without fame, he won't ever get a woman's respect. But what's worse is that he won't get it from himself either. VIOLA AFRIFA