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Poster for Videocracy

Videocracy

The Shame of Europe

2009 · 1h 25m · Not Rated Documentary
Directed by Erik Gandini

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Overview

In a country where bella figura is a national pastime, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is the maestro of media manipulation. Having risen to political primacy with the aid of his Mediaset empire, he now controls 90% of the bel paese’s television channels including the state-run RAI network. Quantity, it seems, does not equal quality. Fed on a diet of semi-naked dancing girls, inane competitions and rickety reality shows built around the most ridiculous of premises, is it any wonder that Italians are becoming a nation of fame-hungry wannabes?

Director and cast

Critics on Rotten Tomatoes

Top critics, in their words

All reviews
67%
Tomatometer
Fresh

Pulsing with incredulity and dread, it's less a fully developed argument than the seed of one.

Sheri Linden, Los Angeles Times
Fresh

Videocracy makes spooky comedy of a nation's addiction to fame.

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe
Fresh

The combination of terrific footage with a low, rumbling score of doom makes this a compelling horror show.

Dave Calhoun, Time Out
Fresh

Videocracy is a queasy-funny and unapologetically biased look at the televisual world that the Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, has created.

Manohla Dargis, New York Times
Fresh

If a team of clever screenwriters tried to script a cautionary tale about the politics of fame (and the fame of politics), they likely couldn't come up with anything odder or more apt than Erik Gandini's documentary Videocracy.

Noel Murray, AV Club

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