Italian cinema has followed a long tradition of making of political cinema.The idea is to highlight strengths and weaknesses of Italian political system.Apart from famous Italian conscience keeper Francesco Rosi,Elio Petri has also made excellent films which have depicted political unrest faced by post war Italian nation.Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion is a frank yet bleak portrayal of a corrupt, fraudulent Italian society which is heavily dependent on its crooked police force.After watching this film,one can easily state that all corrupt societies are hindrance to human progress.Italian police is one of the most corrupt police forces in the world.This has been proved in this film by showing a perverted soul for whom power and sexuality go hand in hand.Gian Maria Volonté is excellent as an honorable police officer,citizen who is above all kinds of suspicions.This film is similar to Kitano Takeshi's masterpiece "Violent Cop".Both films show that even when a criminal is caught,crime fails to stop as the dirty political system is allowed to grow at the expense of common man.

Some comments in light of previous descriptions of the movie. This movie is definitively about state violence. Even if to a viewer that has no foreknowledge of the police state that was instituted in Italy (with the help of the CIA as the movie alludes to) in order to keep the Communist Party from taking power (the PCI had the biggest following of any parties at that time), the fact remains that the movie is not much more surreal than the socio-political reality facing the film-maker. Murders and "suicides" (while in police custody) of left-wing political activists and of anarchists are a fact that Elio Petri was painfully aware of. He made a documentary called "Streghi dello stato" "witches of the state" where Jean Maria Volonte and others expose such "suicides". Elio Petri was politically aware and through out his work there is criticism of the right wing of Italian politics (see TODO MORO). I think that the movie is most powerful once you are aware of the fact that you can be victimized at the hands of an institution, esp. at the hands of an institution that exists only to maintain political order. Once the politicization of the priorities of those institutions that have the legitimate use of violence occurs, than meaningless violence towards the innocent will be allowed if punishing it would impair the political functions of the state machinery. Flora Balkan is perhaps a symbol for the masses, their love of violence and power, their love for the undoing of their freedoms. A very fine movie that requires some effort, but that is always actual - thanks to an interesting narration of human nature. The movie does have it's flaws and i the action is not as invigorated as one expects it to be after the first 15 minutes, neither is the camera work at the level it has to be for this movie to be the greatest ever but it is still a hell of a great movie. Whether or not you agree with this movie's negative portrayal of state violence and of that primal attraction that violence has (explored in a marvelously Mediterranean style in this movie) for so many could make the difference in how much you are puzzled by the movie. If you see it a a satire of power and violence - it might work.

"Indagine su un cittadino al di sopra di ogni sospetto" is one the best films of Elio Petri. This great director used to make films with a strong social content. This movie, which won an Oscar for the best foreign language film in 1970, stars Gian Maria Volonté -one of Petri's favorite actors.The story is about a fascist police boss, who accidentally kills his mistress during an erotic game. Fate wants him to lead the inquiry for this death. The policeman spreads everywhere clues for his guilt (!). He doesn't do that for justice, he only does this for proving to himself that he's untouchable.Gian Maria Volonté performance is memorable -as usual... He was a big actor, he could change from one role to the other like an extraordinary chameleon. The film has a solid structure, it is satirical and cynical. The sarcasm towards the police boss is also supported by an excellent musical score by Ennio Morricone.We miss films like this one, it's one of the examples of Italian masterpieces which aren't produced any more.

Indagine su un cittadino al di sopra di ogni sospetto (1970), known in the US as Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion is an film that begins with a great premise. The chief of homicide murders his mistress, then plants clues that implicate him in the crime. The chief has just been promoted to chief of the internal security squad, where he will oversee the activities of the branch of government that spies on students, labor unionists, and anyone else who questions that government's methods or goals. The film has two plots.One is the re-emergence of fascism in the guise of anti-terrorism, and the other is the events following the chief's brutal crime. Either of these themes could have been developed into an excellent film.The bad news is that the movie flounders in pop psychology, and ends up unsure of itself, of its point of view, and of its conclusion. Still, the protagonist--played by Gian Maria Volonté--is appropriately handsome in a brutal, unfeeling way, and his mistress--played by the Brazilian actress Florinda Bolkan--is appropriately beautiful in a disturbed and disturbing way.I went to see this film with high hopes, which were not realized.Too bad--Investigation of a Citizen started well, and could have been a winner.