Myron Clemons A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

Ella-May O'Brien Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Matho The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

Dana An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

runamokprods Sober, slow, beautifully photographed study of a murder trial in 1930s fascist Italy. The accused is clearly guilty, but one judge, opposed to the death penalty, is determined to understand the man and his motives rather than join the rush to execute him and be done with it.Some terrific, subtle acting. But the ideas get a bit clunky in the last third – more didactic, less nuanced. And while I enjoyed and admired the film, I wasn't really moved by it. That said, I will certainly re-watch it at some point, and moments have really stuck with me over time.

Arca1943 Of course ignorance can be tolerated, but sometimes enough is enough. So I must reply to Mr. ccthemovieman-1, whose comment really goes over the top, as shown in the following quote : « In this movie, people who support the death penalty are called "fascists." Well, I used to be a flaming Left Winger and I remember calling anyone who disagreed with us a "fascist" back in the '60s, so I guess nothing has changed in that regard. » Well, it's because in this Italian film, the action is taking place in 1938 - that is, under the Fascist regime. So "the people who support death penalty" are not CALLED the fascists, they ARE the fascists, the real thing, the genuine article : fascismo (1922-1944). Nothing to do with the blatant ignorance of fascism displayed in the sixties by some American 'Liberal' activist, which by now has become the blatant ignorance of fascism displayed by some American 'Conservative' activist. As is well known, death penalty in Italy was abolished in 1890, reinstalled in 1922 by Mussolini's regime and abolished again in 1946.Now this Gianni Amelio courtroom drama (watch out the SPOILERS are coming) tells us the story of a 1938 magistrate (Gian Maria Volontè) who while not being exactly an antifascist, has always been at odds with the 1922 reenactment of death penalty and is now trying to find some loopholes or small print or mitigating circumstances of any kind to avoid delivering a death penalty verdict at the trial he's presiding - except that the accused is as uncooperative as possible since the guy WANTS to be executed.I shall also add that the Leonardo Sciascia book from which the movie is adapted is based on a true story. A writer with the mentality of an historian, Mr. Sciascia has been digging into old Sicilian trials that took place during the Ventennio (i.e. Fascist era) and found this story. So the movie is also a living page of history. The fascists in the story are called the fascists because they are the fascists.ccthemovieman-1 should stick to watching American movies, period. Anyway, aren't American movies the best ? Of course they are. So why not keep watching them and forget about the rest.

leomarco67 Excluding any political comment, the performance of G.M. Volontè is simply amazing: the character is explained even with a close-up, expressing what not only a judge but every man should think about so-called undisputed truths... Trying to be anything but superficial trough doubt and curiosity. Maybe "ccthemovieman" were too left-wing or better were too convinced of his opinions once and unfortunately nowadays. He's partially understandable because this movie is deep-seated in Italian culture so is pretty difficult to a foreigner get some light nuances, amplified by the Sicilian environment of the script based on novel of the great Leonardo Sciascia. In my opinion this movie deserves 9 out of 10 stars for the psychological deepening of the characters.cheers

Watson-11 In my opinion, this film is the top of Gian Maria Volonte's presence in the cinema. It undoubtfully says that before judging someone people should try to find an answer to the question what the reasons for his behavior and his acts are. This production is a very convincing message about the only way of overcoming the General Capital sentence over all the humanity - the way of repentance.