Why you can trust 12DOVE
TV’s opiate influence in Berlusconi’s Italy is the focus of this fitfully persuasive doc, which claims the flamboyant PM has established an all-pervasive celebrity culture in order to exert a quasi-fascist hold over a gullible populace.
Witnesses for the defence of director Erik Gandini’s argument come in the form of a paparazzo who blackmails his subjects, plus a labourer who’s desperate for small-screen stardom and a talent scout whose mobile has a Mussolini ringtone.
Yet while it’s hard to dispute Silvio has helped flood his country’s airwaves with scantily clad totty, what’s missing from this doc is any piercing insight into old Hair Plugs himself.
Neil Smith is a freelance film critic who has written for several publications, including Total Film. His bylines can be found at the BBC, Film 4 Independent, Uncut Magazine, SFX, Heat Magazine, Popcorn, and more.

Fantastic Four: The First Steps director unveils the movie's retro-futuristic space suits and practical sets: "I really wanted it to feel like it was made in 1965, the way Stanley Kubrick would have made it"

31 years after working on the original System Shock, Arkane founder gave up on the 2023 remake because it was "too hard"

Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies reassures fans that this season's "standalone" Ruby Sunday episode does feature "lots" of the Doctor unlike '73 Yards', as star Ncuti Gatwa calls it his favorite