Secret File is Benvenuti’s most controversial and explicitly political film. Here, Benvenuti fictionalizes a historical research first suggested to him by political activist Danilo Dolci (1924-1997), and centred on the massacre of Portella della Ginestra. On May 1st 1947, peasants gathered in the valley of Portella to celebrate the victory of a coalition between the Socialist and Communist Parties at regional elections. Suddenly, machine guns opened fire on the crowd, leaving eleven people dead and dozens injured. Official reconstructions ascribed responsibility for the massacre solely to the mob of bandit Salvatore Giuliano. But the protagonist of the film (one of the bandits’ lawyer) thinks otherwise, and begins a daring investigation. For this mystery film, Benvenuti decided for once to base his visuals on cinematic models, moulding a surprising interplay between the modes of Hitchcock and Rossellini. In a masterly and goosebump-inducing scene, he exposes through a simple card game the intricate and harrowing connections between mafia, politics and the American secret services in post-War Sicily. After competing at the Venice Film Festival, Secret File was Benvenuti’s first film to receive national release. However, Benvenuti recalls that a parliamentary question convinced the distributor to soon withdraw the troublesome film from the theatres.
