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“Slap the Monster on Page One” * (1972, Radiance Films) Gian Maria Volonte, who serves as editor of a rabidly right-wing newspaper in Italy, finds a solution to mounting problems – angry protests against the paper’s hateful screeds and an election pitting the Communist Party against his paper’s preferred Christian Democrats – in the brutal murder of a young girl, and throws his talent for manipulation and slander into pinning the crime on an activist. Alarmingly prescient drama-thriller from Marco Bellocchio (who replaced co-writer Sergio Donati as director) details how the news can reframe not only opinion but perception of fact through a combination of clever language and constant repetition of specific talking points, even if contrary facts are in plain sight. May be too much for some viewers to take in after recent events; Radiance’s subtitled Limited Edition Blu-ray, taken from a 4K restoration, includes a new interview with critic Mario Sesti, who details both the film’s production and the political climate in Italy – the “Years of Lead,” a two-decade period of political upheaval and violence between far-left and right factions – as well as a new appreciation by “Repo Man” director Alex Cox and an archival interview with Bellocchio.
