Silvio Berlusconi rose from cruise ship entertainer to become a successful entrepreneur, and then Prime Minister of Italy.
Suddenly, when he was just a hair’s breadth away from attaining the highest and most sought-after office in Italy, the Quirinale, his ascent came to an abrupt halt.

“SB I Knew Him Well” is a documentary that explores the secrets, the high points and dark shadows of his story. It paints an intimate portrait of the man who made his mark on  Italian political history.

Directors-authors-journalists Giacomo Durzi and Giovanni Fasanella told us:
“Our narrative follows personal interviews, enhanced and accompanied by archive material that provides a historical context for the personal choices, actions and ventures of a man who attained so much, butwho at the same time provoked extensive criticism and was the recipient of serious accusations.”

From Vittorio Dotti, Berlusconi’s personal lawyer and close friend;ù to Paolo Pillitteri, journalist, politician, former mayor of Milan and who was also very close to Bettino Craxi,  as well as Giuliano Ferrara and Paolo Guzzanti, who both, following years of socialism and communism, became Berlusconi supporters are just some of the personalities who knew him closely, and whom we interviewed.
Armed with their voices, we outline the rise and fall of this highly controversial figure.

The movie is an ironical, funny, real, biopic-documentary n Italy’s last 30 years of entertainment and society, and n its latest 17 years of politics, full of pop-art inspiration and stories on Berlusconi’s life and thoughts by his past friends and politics mates, deluded or not by his works.
Absolutely a brand new must see.

Directors continued:
“Abroad Silvio Berlusconi was known in the past only for his career as a great manager, and we had some delays in the production of the movie due to our research in french, italian and swiss archives.
It’s a movie where the people we interviewed had their peronal and intimate analysis.
How, in a free country like Italy, could an Italian television tycoon become a political figure and the head of a Government so powerful that it could clock-up nearly twenty years of our country’s history? Is it just down his media power?

The whole world talked about him, this anomaly in the panorama of western democracy, and they still talk today. At times with worry, almost fearing his effect might be contagious. At other times with derision, retelling the contradictions and the numerous misadventures and lapses in judgement, the sex scandals, the embarrassing gaffs, and his bullish, naive behaviour, even when at the table with international leaders. This film tries, for the first time, to answer two questions: Why him exactly? And why in Italy?”

“S.B. I Knew Him Well isn’t a investigation into Silvio Berlusconi, but a reconstruction of the rise and fall of a Shakespearean tragedy, a man who defined an era, changing the course of politics and Italianhistory.
Who profoundly impacted on the life, culture and psychology of a population.  Our film paints a anthropological portrait of the man, intending to highlight the aspects of his character and personality that make him unique.  We decided to make this with an objective eye, that was non emotive.
We used a narrative of interviews and other evocative and contextualising  linguistic devices,  such as the reports and animations.
We carefully place the person and his phenomenon in a historical context (because Berlusconi is a product of both history and an epoch), and rather than showing a judgemental point of view, be that political or moral (or moralistic), we chose an unusual perspective – not that of the judiciary or his critics, but interviews with former friends, or now ex-friends; men and women who knew him close up and who shared friends, relationships and professional access; former partners from his television station, which began the television revolution in Italy and transformed the social, cultural and political panorama of our country; political colleagues – witnesses and leading players who had great hopes and who witnessed them dashed in a particularity inglorious way.”

Lots of animated parts, created by comic artist Giacomo Nanni, who works for Coconino and with some past experiences with GiPi, makes an image of SB like a pop-art icon, inspired by Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein artwoks.

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