Viva Zapatero!

Viva Zapatero! is an engaging documentary with a political slant about satire, parody and humour as weapons against the rise of totalitarianism, opportunism and boundless greed. Sabina Guzzanti is well known in Italy from a satirical programme ridiculing Italian politics and in which Guzzanti does a very popular Berlusconi imitation. When the RAI broadcasting corporation decided to pull the series after only one episode, Guzzanti considered the time right for a vigorous protest. How can it be that, in a democracy like Italy, the government decides what a broadcasting company can transmit? Despite, or thanks to, the boundless power of Berlusconi, Viva Zapatero! was released in Italy in 30 cinemas and the surprise screening in Venice in September 2005 received a 20-minute standing ovation. On the one hand, this personal film shows Guzzanti confronting senior figures with issues such as corruption and censorship, while on the other it is also a mini-tour of Western Europe, in which various people give their opinions on controversial television satires from France, the United Kingdom (Spitting Image) and the Netherlands (Kopspijkers, featuring Prime Minister Balkenende and the Dutch Queen). Guzzanti is surprised that satire, a phenomenon deeply rooted in Western history, can be subject to censorship in today’s in Italy. There is also comic relief in the form of minor, very humorous fragments of Guzzanti as Berlusconi. (EH)