ABSTRACT
As America comes to grips with its still-recent traumatic encounter with terrorism through its first cinematic re-staging of the al-Qaida attacks, Italy continues to stage onscreen its struggle with the not-so-distant memories of the anni di piombo. Microcosmic representation of a world upside down, where fathers replace their children in the role of the rebel, Colpire al cuore offers a scathing portrayal of a phenomenon, or as Amelio has it, a problem that has indeed struck at the heart of Italian society. Although Bologna and Ustica certainly rank among the darkest mysteries of the Italian republic, the Moro affair unquestionably represents the most traumatic event ever faced by Italy after the end of the Second World War. Unlike Martinelli or Ferrara, Bellocchio never expects to offer the 'truth' about the Moro affair, but rather a poetic and subjective interpretation of the story and, more so, of what it represented for the Italian social body.
