Videocracy

Again, we have the problem of an important and right cause, presented in a way that is not particularly brilliant. We shouldn't be too hard on the way this film is made; the problems come with a lot of good things; but the message may come out a little diluted.
It is important to essay and document (with a few moments of excellent access) the brutally unfunny media culture that Berlusconi has instituted in his personal fiefdom. The connections are made, shown, and we have a picture of a web presided over by the least amusing clown there could be. The presentation is, until perhaps the final titles, neutral; the documenter is careful not to give evaluative judgements, though it is of course clear what the case is here. The refusal to use Berlusconi's name for the first twenty mintues is a clever evocation of his pupper master role. The use of intertwining stories, if maybe a little over-slanted to the top-end, at least tries to show how the problems filter down.
But, in regard to the last point, it does not do this enough. We are not given enough context of the role this plays in wider Italy. A few stats about televsion dispersal doesn't really tell us how the disgusting media web plays itself out, whether it is a closed circuit of corruption or whether it turns all Italian national life to its ways. The few stats at the end are little succour.
An important subject, addressed in a limtied way. For those who know little of Italy's current problems it is important to watch, for those already clued in it acts as a confiramtion, rather than a wider analysis.