ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the political efficacy of conspiracy theory in films on the terrorism of the anni di piombo. The conspiracy film confirms the extreme right's conception of society as ruled by violence, and implicitly validates the view that the effective exertion of authority and power is the only real question of importance. The chapter explains that the danger of the 'paranoid' or conspiracy mode is that it removes agency not only from the victims of the conspiracy but also from those who seek justice and proper commemoration. It identifies assertions in relation to a film on the desire for justice for the victims of the Brescia massacre, Le mani forti, and discusses the conspiracy films on the Aldo Moro kidnapping. The chapter argues that Piazza delle Cinque Lune adopts the memory of Moro as an expedient motif of a tainted Italian national heritage.
