This essay provides an introduction to the representation and working through in Italian cinema of the experience of terrorism during the ‘leaden years’ (anni di piombo, 1969—c. 1983). It begins by discussing the key terms ‘terrorism’ and ‘anni di piombo’ themselves before providing a short history of the different terrorisms in Italy during the long 1970s. The remainder of the essay is given over to a discussion of the key films, genres and modes that have dealt with the events or memories of that terrorism. Genres include the cop film, Italian-style comedy and auteurist films. Key titles include Cadaveri eccellenti (Illustrious Corpses, dir. Francesco Rosi, 1976), Colpire al cuore (A Blow to the Heart, dir. Gianni Amelio, 1982), La seconda volta (The Second Time, dir. Mimmo Calopresti, 1995), and Buongiorno, notte (Good Morning, Night, dir. Marco Bellocchio, 2003).
Brunetta GP ( 2007) Il cinema italiano contemporaneo: da ‘La dolce vita’ a ‘Centochiodi’. Rome: Laterza.
2.
Bruni F. ( 1995) La seconda volta: Incontro-dibattito con uno degli autori , Script10: 43-50.
3.
Bull MJ, Newell JL ( 2005) Italian Politics. Cambridge: Polity.
4.
Camerini C. ( 1986) I critici e la commedia all’italiana: le occasioni perdute. In: R Napolitano (ed.) Commedia all’italiana: angolazioni controcampi. Rome: Gangemi Editore, 179-81.
5.
Cecchini L. ( 2005) Rappresentazioni degli anni di piombo. In: E Garavelli and E Suomela-Härmä (eds) Atti del VII Congresso degli Italianisti Scandinavi, Mémoires de la Société Néophilologique de Helsinki 68. Helsinki: Société Néophilologique, 299-310.
6.
Cento Bull A. ( 2007) Italian Neofascism: The Strategy of Tension and the Politics of Nonreconciliation. Oxford: Berghahn Books.
7.
Ciment M. ( 1981) Francesco Rosi’s Three Brothers. Sight and Sound51(1): 46-9.
8.
Cuddon JA ( 1991) The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory, 3rd edn. Harmondsworth : Penguin.
9.
Curcio R. and Scialoja M. ( 1993) A viso aperto: vita e memorie del fondatore delle BR. Milan: Mondadori.
10.
Curti R. ( 2006) Italia odia: il cinema poliziesco italiano. Turin: Lindau.
11.
Dalle Vacche A. ( 1992) The Body in the Mirror: Shapes of History in Italian Cinema . Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
12.
Di Caprio L. ( 1984) Baader-Meinhof fictionalized. Jump Cut29: 56-9.
13.
Fasanella G., Pellegrino G., Sestieri C. ( 2008) Segreto di Stato: verità e riconciliazione sugli anni di piombo. Milan: Sperling e Kupfer.
14.
Ferraresi F. ( 1996) Threats to Democracy: The Radical Right in Italy after the War. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
15.
Ginsborg P. ( 2001) Italy and its Discontents: Family, Civil Society, State 1980-2001. London: Allen Lane.
16.
Glynn R. (forthcoming) Terrorism, a female malady? In: R Glynn , G Lombardi and A O’Leary (eds) Terrorism Italian Style: The Representation of Terrorism and Political Violence in Contemporary Italian Cinema. London: IGRS Books.
17.
Glynn R, Lombardi G.,O’Leary A (eds) (forthcoming) Terrorism Italian Style: The Representation of Terrorism and Political Violence in Contemporary Italian Cinema. London: IGRS Books.
18.
Lanaro S. ( 1992) Storia dell’Italia repubblicana: dalla fine della guerra agli anni novanta. Venice: Marsilio.
19.
Lenci S. ( 1988) Colpo alla nuca. Rome: Editori Riuniti.
20.
Lombardi G. ( 2000) Unforgiven: revisiting political terrorism in La seconda volta, Italica77(2): 199-213.
21.
Lombardi G. ( 2009) Screening terror: political terrorism in Italian cinema . In: P Antonello and A O’Leary (eds) Imagining Terrorism: The Rhetoric and Representation of Political Violence in Italy 1969-2009. London: Legenda.
22.
Luckett M. ( 2000) Image and nation in 1990s British cinema. In: R Murphy (ed.) British Cinema of the 90s. London: British Film Institute, 88-99.
23.
Natalini F. ( 2005) Diavolo in corpo. In: A Aprà (ed.) Marco Bellocchio: il cinema e i film. Venice: Marsilio, 185-9.
24.
O’Leary A. ( 2005) Film and the ‘anni di piombo’: representations of politically motivated violence in recent Italian cinema. In: G Bonsaver and RSC Gordon (eds) Culture, Censorship and the State in Twentieth-Century Italy. Oxford: Legenda, 168-78.
25.
O’Leary A. ( 2007) Tragedia all’italiana: cinema e terrorismo tra Moro e memoria. Tissi: Angelica.
26.
O’Leary A. ( 2008) Dead man walking: the Aldo Moro kidnap and palimpsest history in Buongiorno, notte. New Cinemas6(1): 33-45.
27.
Pergolari A. ( 2007) La fisionomia del terrorismo nero nel cinema poliziesco italiano degli anni ’70. In: C Uva (ed.) Schermi di piombo: il terrorismo nel cinema italiano . Soveria Mannelli: Rubbettino, 159-72.
28.
Saulini M. ( 1987) Il titolo del film diventa modulo locutivo comune. Cultura e scuola26(102): 74-82.
29.
Sorlin P. ( 1996) Italian National Cinema. London: Routledge.
30.
Tardi R. ( 2005) Representations of Italian left political violence in film, literature and theatre (1973-2005). Unpublished doctoral dissertation , University College London.
31.
Uva C (ed.) (2007) Schermi di piombo: Il terrorismo nel cinema italiano. Soveria Mannelli : Rubbettino.
32.
Wood MP ( 2003) Revealing the hidden city: the cinematic conspiracy thriller of the 1970s. The Italianist23: 150-62.
33.
Wood MP ( 2005) Italian Cinema. Oxford: Berg.
34.
Wood MP (forthcoming) Navigating the labyrinth: cinematic investigations of right-wing terrorism . In: R Glynn, G Lombardi and A O’Leary (eds) Terrorism Italian Style: The Representation of Terrorism and Political Violence in Contemporary Italian Cinema. London: IGRS Books.
