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Excellent Cadavers
First Run / Icarus Films

Excellent Cadavers reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 67 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
9.0 out of 10
based on 16 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 1 votes
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Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: Not Rated

Based on the book by Italian-American author Alexander Stille and featuring the photos of Sicilian photojournalist Letizia Battaglia, this documentary chronicles the recent history of the Mafia and its integral -- and seemingly ineradicable -- relationship to postwar Italian politics. (First Run / Icarus Films)


GENRE(S): Documentary  
WRITTEN BY: Alexander Stille (book)  
DIRECTED BY: Marco Turco  
RELEASE DATE: Theatrical: July 12, 2006 
RUNNING TIME: 92 minutes, Color / B/W 
ORIGIN: Italy / France 
LANGUAGE(S): English / Italian (with English subtitles) 

Best Documentary, 2005 Festival dei Popoli (Florence)

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

83
Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
Chronicles the showdown between prosecutors and mafiosi that, in the '80s and early '90s, turned the city of Palermo into a murderous blood zone.
Read Full Review
80
Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir
It's riveting.
Read Full Review
80
The New York Times Dana Stevens
Mr. Stille, more reporter than historian, does not stray too far beyond the immediate parameters of his main story, but the strongest criticism to be made of this film is also the highest praise: you wish there were more of it.
Read Full Review
80
The Hollywood Reporter Frank Scheck
Marco Turco's film is a thorough, journalistic examination that is ultimately as horrifying as it is informative.
Read Full Review
75
San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
This is a superb documentary that touches profundity in its footage of Rosaria Schifani, the widow of one of the police officers killed along with Falcone.
Read Full Review
75
New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
Anyone with the slightest interest in mob entertainment - from "The Godfather" to "The Sopranos" - should check out Marco Turco's grimly compelling documentary, which zooms in on the bloody streets of Palermo, Italy.
Read Full Review
75
TV Guide Ken Fox
Anyone whose romantic illusions about the Mafia involve Michael Corleone and Tony Soprano would do well to watch Turco's eye-opening film: It shows the Cosa Nostra as the unstoppable and infinitely adaptable virus it is, and serves as a good entree to Stille's far more thorough book.
Read Full Review
70
Village Voice Joshua Land
A multimedia mosaic of the recent past—even if the overall effect is less one of rigorous historical engagement than of a filmmaker pulling out all the stops.
Read Full Review
70
Los Angeles Times Gene Seymour
A bleakly riveting autopsy of frustrated hopes.
Read Full Review
70
Chicago Reader J.R. Jones
Gripping Italian documentary.
Read Full Review
63
Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
Cadavers is a rich mine of information on a subject about which it is sometimes too easy to be superficial.
Read Full Review
60
LA Weekly Ernest Hardy
But what really hooks the viewer are the copious news footage and crime-scene photos of Sicily and Palermo drenched in blood -- car bombs, decapitated heads, bodies spilled in awkward poses after assassinations in street cafés. In showing all the stuff that the History Channel discreetly edits out, Excellent Cadavers dismantles the celluloid romanticizing of the Mafia.
Read Full Review
60
The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann
Marco Turco's documentary rendition of Stille's book is a graphic reminder that at least one place on earth continues to be the site of a primordial moral struggle.
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60
Variety Leslie Felperin
Story will be familiar, but still of interest to Italian auds.
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58
The Onion (A.V. Club) Noel Murray
In spite of all that--and in spite of the artfully lit interviews and energetic musical score--the documentary resolves into an accumulation of names, dates, and mundane procedural detail. The sympathy is missing.
Read Full Review
50
New York Post Lou Lumenick
There's little, if anything, that will be new for those interested in the subject.
Read Full Review

What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 9.0 (out of 10) based on 1 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

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