Franco Nero and Martin Balsam go tête-à-tête in Damiano Damiani’s slow-burn thriller Confessions of a Police Captain, putting the two veteran actors against each other on two different sides of the Italian judicial system. After an asylum inmate gets early release and immediately initiates a shootout in an attempt to gun down politically-allied Lomunno (Luciano Catenacci), police commissioner Bonavia (Balsam) finds himself under the microscope of District Attorney Traini (Nero) for a suspected hit; and throughout, Damiani’s script documents the various corruption and cover-ups within the Italian legal and political spectrum as the two vow to accomplish their own agendas.
Confessions of a Police Captain is one of Damiani’s earlier poliziotteschi, and here he is in fine form as both writer and director fashioning a particularly pessimistic storyline about failures within the judicial system. Unlike some of the later movies, this one offers up a double-sided view of the proceedings; it presents its commissioner’s “confession” of the title as one piece of the legal system that doesn’t work. In a flashback sequence (with Catenacci sporting an exquisite hairpiece), Bonavia gives a rundown of Lomunno’s crimes and his accomplices within the government allowing the corruption to continue; this reflection, shot in almost western-like style with slick rooftop scenography and gundown faceoffs, presents a visual metaphor about the wildness of blatant state-sanctioned criminology. Likewise, as Traini investigates the unorthodox and illegal actions that commissioner Bonavia has taken (that mirror his own as the DA), Nero’s mustachioed “hero” reveals an unflagging confidence in the system up until the very end of the movie.
Damiani’s pointed exposition is quite talky, full of political and legal intrigue that saves its action for shocking sparse bursts. This quiet progression is paired with Riz Ortolani’s brooding score to enhance the more explosively charged moments. Damiani saves his most critical and cynical observations for Confessions of a Police Captain for the finale, wherein a key witness is murdered, our titular character resorts to violence and ultimately meets his end in prison, and Nero’s Traini realizes his faith in justice has been shaken. The film’s chilling themes play out in succinct metaphor, with Nero framed behind bars despite being a “free” man and the prisoners laughing at a film while the police commissioner dies an agonizing death. Damiano’s criticisms don’t stray far from relevance over forty years later.
Blu-ray
Radiance Films continues their release of Damiani classics with this Blu-ray edition of Confessions of a Police Captain, which features a 2K restoration provided to Radiance per the booklet notes. The visual quality looks very good, with a nice amount of detail included in a medium-bodied grain scale. Facial and clothing textures retain clarity, while background shots feature strong depth. A few instances of untouched damage still remain including some visible hairs, but otherwise this is a compelling transfer of the film with a consistent color grading that feels authentic to the original cinematography, closely resembling other Damiani works.
Audio includes both a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono Italian and English dub, and the notes state additional synching was performed to get the English dub to match with the visual speaking. Both sound good, and to be honest either one is a fine way to watch the movie considering it was shot in English and dubbing was performed for both English and Italian tracks anyway.
For extras, Radiance collects a number of new interviews in collaboration with Freak-o-rama. The first is with Franco Nero in Italian with English subtitles, and he speaks about working with Damiani on a number of films and how Martin Balsam was brought in to play the titular police captain on this film. Michele Gammino documents his first work as an actor on the film and learning English for the production, along with working with the kindly Balsam who remained a professional throughout the shoot. Editor Antonio Siciliano talks about Damiani’s natural rhythm and pacing, how he influenced the ending of the film, and his own discoveries of how to edit P2 film without losing too many frames. Finally, an interview with film critic Lovely Jon discusses Riz Ortolani’s score on the film, providing a rundown of Ortolani’s early life and career before launching into specific criticisms of Confessions of a Police Captain. A gallery is also included.
For the packaging, this release features a reversible sleever and an essay book;et containing a few different interview excerpts with Damiani. In both interviews, he discusses his own political views and how they relate to his filmography, and specifically remarks on the real mafioso dealings in Sicily that inspired Confessions of a Police Captain.
Extra Features
- 2K restoration presented with Italian and English audio options
- Uncompressed mono PCM audio
- NEW Interview with actor Franco Nero (1080p; 29:15)
- NEW Interview with actor Michele Gammino (1080p; 22:47)
- NEW Interview with editor Antonio Siciliano (1080p; 26:49)
- NEW Interview with film score expert Lovely Jon about Riz Ortolani’s score (1080p; 31:00)
- Gallery (chapter breaks; 1:18)
- NEW improved English subtitle translation for Italian audio and English SDH subtitles for English audio
- NEW Reversible sleeve featuring designs based on original posters
- NEW Limited edition booklet featuring archival interviews with Damiano Damiani
- Limited edition of 3000 copies, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings
Verdict
Confessions of a Police Captain is a seminal work from Damiano Damiani, and this Blu-ray release from Radiance Films provides a great transfer and a number of new extra features that provide additional respect for this work. Recommended.
