ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses two films made in the early 1980s, Tragedia di un uomo ridicolo and Colpire al cuore, whose use of the theme of terrorism and its potential causes and effects highlights the interrelation of the political and the personal arenas. It describes the films' concentration on the father-son relationship within a more general exposition of the family and family relations, and describes that they offer some insight into discussions about the paternal role and about Italian society at that time. The chapter proposes that, in representing an account of political and cultural phenomena, film can offer an understanding of how particular concerns become manifested at particular times, this is not an attempt to argue for any explicit links between cinema and politics. It describes two accounts, the one historical, the other psychoanalytic, which were shaped by feminism. Here, paternal identification contributed to feminist militancy and political commitment with its emphasis on the arena of the personal.
