Five Moons Square

On 16 March 1978, around 9 am, a BR commando stationed in Rome's via Fani opened fire on the escort of Moro, kidnapping him and killing the police agents Raffaele Iozzino, Oreste Leonardi, Domenico Ricci, Giulio Rivera, and Francesco Zizzi. One notable hypothesis for the kidnapping's motive was blocking Moro's Historic Compromise with the Italian Communist Party (PCI), which would allow the PCI to become part of the Italian government. Prior to Five Moons Square, Martinelli directed several other films, such as Porzûs (about the Porzûs massacre) and Vajont (about the Vajont disaster). In Five Moons Square, Martinelli advances the hypothesis that the BR had been manipulated by the secret services to stop Moro's proposal and the PCI's road to government, placing it in the context of other Years of Lead events, such as the Piazza della Loggia bombing and Piazza Fontana bombing (both of them committed by the far-right terrorists of Ordine Nuovo), as well as the Italicus Express bombing (by the far-right terrorists of Ordine Nero). Regarding Moro's death, his daughter, Maria Fida Moro, discussed the outcomes of the ordeal her father suffered. She said: "I am 56 years old and since I reached the age of reason, therefore around seven years of age, I know with absolute certainty that part or all of my family will end up in a pool of blood. I always knew. My entire childhood was marred by the fact that my father and mother had threatened to take away my younger brothers and send them back cut into pieces in a suitcase." She added: "I lived like this. I absolutely didn't want a child because I didn't want to start experiencing these things again. Then the Moro case happened... and this is our life." She said that in 1974, after their trip to the United States, Moro had decided to leave politics but then his nephew, Luca Moro, was born in September 1975. She recalled an episode when Moro, talking to his mother in front of the nursery, told her: "I can't leave [politics], because they will definitely kill me, but I have to delay the catastrophe that hangs over our country for these children." == Plot ==

Rosario Saracini, a judge and chief prosecutor of Siena, is about to retire and receives an old film in Super 8 format, which was shot years earlier. The film contains footage of Moro's kidnapping which took place in via Fani, Rome, in April 1978. Saracini reveals this secret to his colleague, Fernanda Doni, and his bodyguard, Branco. The three passionately reconstruct the phases of the kidnapping. Branco notices a gentleman wearing a raincoat in the via Fani assault footage. In Milan, Saracini has the images enlarged so he can see the man's face. In the image, he recognizes him as Camillo Guglielmi, a colonel of SISMI (Italy's military intelligence agency from 1977 to 2007) who belonged to the clandestine military Operation Gladio. This leads Saracini, Doni, and Branco to start a new investigation twenty-five years after Moro's murder. New investigations are carried out by Doni, focusing on the hideout of the Red Brigades in via Gradoli. Other anomalies emerge regarding the three committees set up by Francesco Cossiga, whose members are all affiliated with Propaganda Due (P2), and appear to be connected with the American secret services. During the investigations, Doni's children disappear, but Branco brings them home. Further strange events occur, as Doni loses her husband in an accident in which her children are also involved. After the funeral, Saracini is in the car with Branco, and an aircraft dispenses toxic gas over the car. The two escape the attack. After a phone call from the chief prosecutor of the Republic, Saracini goes to Rome for an appointment in Piazza delle Cinque Lune. Saracini goes up the stairs and arrives in front of a door which says Immobiliare Domino. In the room, he finds Branco with other people. He now understands that the bodyguard is a traitor whose task was to spy on the investigations and take possession of all the documents of the . One of those letters is read by Cesare Barbetti. who plays the song "Maledetti Voi (Signori del Potere)" ("Shame on You (Lords of the Power)" on the guitar. The background is filled with images of Moro playing with his nephew, who was still a child at the time. == Cast ==

• Donald Sutherland as Rosario Saracini • Giancarlo Giannini as Branco • Stefania Rocca as Fernanda Doni • F. Murray Abraham as The Entity • as Ombretta Saracini • Greg Wise as Francesco Doni • Nicola Di Pinto as Antiquary • Philippe Leroy as Barman == Reception ==

In his review for La Repubblica, Paolo D'Agostini wrote: "We all know that this film, on screens on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the macabre discovery in via Caetani, recalls the kidnapping and murder of Aldo Moro. With the civil awareness, on the part of director Renzo Martinelli (of Vajont and Porzus), that he is dealing with 'the most important event in Italian history of the last half century'." He concluded: "The result is a film that adds nothing to the story of Moro's kidnapping, still full of secrets, leaving out any attempt at a civil complaint and instead aping the most popular television dramas." They described it as a "full-blown thriller, in short, with some gross digressions into the private (a flaw that was also partly the fault of the amazing JFK) and a heartfelt interpretation by Donald Sutherland. The reliability of the new hypotheses remains to be established, but if nothing else it leads to precise and disturbing conclusions. Aldo Moro appears almost in the background, a simple cog in a gigantic mechanism." They concluded that "the hunt for the fateful memorial is still open". == Post-film developments related to the Moro affair ==

The opening credits indicate the collaboration as historical consultant of Flamigni, who was part of the parliamentary commission of inquiry into the Moro case and provided his interpretation for the reconstruction of the facts present in the film. The film's confession of the mysterious terminally ill former BR member would have anticipated some events that occurred a few years after the release of the film, namely the 2009 discovery of a letter, which was brought to light by a former police inspector. The letter references the mysterious men on board a Honda motorbike linked to the secret services. The sender claimed to have been a former secret agent involved in the Moro case in the service of Guglielmi. The presence of Guglielmi himself, which was declared as random, was in fact ascertained in the vicinity of the ambush in via Fani as early as 1991. Martinelli stated that the man could hardly have been influenced by his film and that, in his opinion, it was a truly possible lead. == See also ==