Hands Over the City – Le mani sulla città

See larger image Hands Over the City (The Criterion Collection) [DVD] (DVD) New From: $19.98 In Stock

Hands over the City (Italian: Le mani sulla città) is a 1963 drama film directed by Francesco Rosi. It is a story of political corruption in post-World War II Italy.

Plot
A ruthless Neapolitan land developer and elected city councilman, Edoardo Nottola (Rod Steiger), manages to use political power to make personal profit in a large scale suburban real estate deal. However, after the collapse of a residential building, the Communist councilman De Vita (Carlo Fermariello) initiates an inquiry on Nottola’s possible connection to the accident.

Anchored by a ferocious lead performance from Rod Steiger as a scheming land developer, Francesco Rosi’s Hands Over the City moves breathlessly from a cataclysmic building collapse to the backroom negotiations of civic leaders vying for power in the City Council election. Plunging headfirst into the politically driven real-estate speculation that has devastated Naples’ civilian landscape, Hands Over the City, which was awarded the Golden Lion at the 1963 Venice Film Festival, remains a blistering work of social realism.