A chief of detectives homicide section kills his mistress and deliberately leaves clues to prove his own responsibility for the crime.
Review
After reading all these glowing praise filled reviews I kind of feel like either I'm not very bright or I must have missed something.
Don't get me wrong the idea for the film is clever to a degree. I think though what it is about the movie that leaves me somewhat dissatisfied is as another reviewer here mentioned that it comes across as very one dimensional and onenote in it's presentation.
People here are saying 'This is the greatest of Italian Cinema'... Well I can immediately think of at least 10 Italian films right off the top that I like a HELL of a lot better than this one! Like I say in all humility and honestly I truly just might be missing something here. I mean like just about EVERY other reviewer here I bloody well KNOW that the point of the film (which it hammers away on relentlessly but that is the idea I guess) is that in a kind of Kafka way the highly placed bureaucrat just CANNOT get himself caught even though he is compelled to have his men 'do their job!' Thus the clear title of the film. Also as just about EVERY other review here states I KNOW it is about the Fascism of the state etc. etc. etc...
I don't know... I just didn't really find it that entertaining personally. I thought what it was trying to get across was a good point but EXTREMELY simple and not really that interesting at least to me. And the soundtrack... GEEZ bloody EVERYONE is just about foaming at the mouth at how this is the BEST Morrocone score EVER! Well I don't see it. That annoying spring 'Boing' sound every frigg'n 20 seconds gets VERY VERY old after a while. I found it annoying and not at all likable or 'Brilliant' sorry...
And although the performance of the lead character here was excellent and he obviously did an outstanding job in his role still overall I did NOT find the film engaging at almost any level. There was nothing special I felt about the screenplay or dialog that was clever or memorable I didn't find the overall plot or story that interesting although the idea itself was rather unique and possibly COULD have been much more involving. It just came across to me like the same note being played over and over and over...
It appears that in this case just about every one else here is at odds with me about this movie but what I primarily look for is whether a film is ENJOYABLE & ENTERTAINING I'm afraid that I just don't feel that this was the case here. When I review films I put that particular parameter FIRST above all others in other words no matter what the genre or even whether I particularly like it or not I try to put myself in the place of the average movie goer (movie lover) and try to determine firstly if the film was truly entertaining or engaging in any way. And after 2 long hours of this one I just felt that I really wish I had chosen something else...