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Shooting the Mafia

2019

Kim Longinotto

Documentary

6.6

240

Documentary Italian photographer Letizia Battaglia spends her career documenting the life and crimes of the Mafia.

	Author	Review
United Kingdom	Allan Hunter Screendaily	"A compelling and moving documentary that is rich with commercial potential (...) Battaglia talks candidly as she picks over the pieces of a life that could easily stretch to more than one film"	POS
United States	Guy Lodge Variety	"It’s a patchy biography that often seems undecided as to its true subject: Battaglia’s work, or the Mafia warfare unfolding before her lens."	NEU
United States	Caryn James The Hollywood Reporter	"A chronicle of [Battaglia's] life and work that is interesting enough in substance, but partial and so erratic as a film that it is not likely to bring Battaglia's work the attention it deserves"	NEU
United States	Nick Allen rogerebert.com	"In the end, 'Shooting the Mafia' is about recognizing Battaglia as a woman of immense bravery and unflappable individuality (...) [It] aptly conveys Battaglia's many layers (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)"	POS
United States	Ted Pillow The Playlist	"Longinotto’s film is caught between the immediacy of Battaglia’s experiences and a larger, more comprehensive examination of the crippling impact the Cosa Nostra had on Sicily."	NEU
United States	Katie Walsh Los Angeles Times	"By the end of Longinotto’s inspiring film, you’ll understand Letizia’s former lovers who just couldn’t stay away: it’s all too easy to fall in love with her spirit."	POS
United States	Glenn Kenny The New York Times	"[It] is short on the whens and the hows of [Battaglia's] story"	NEU
United States	John Fink The Film Stage	"Compelling if messily constructed (...) For a film with very high stakes in the form of nightly murders terrorizing a city, the narrative remains restrained and convoluted"	NEU
	Kaleem Aftab Cineuropa	"The story was made inside her camera and is lovingly recounted by Longinotto"	POS
United Kingdom	Peter Bradshaw The Guardian	"The shocking, transgressive images of dead bodies shot by photojournalist Letizia Battaglia are the stars of this revealing documentary (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	Michael O'Sullivan The Washington Post	"For long periods of time, [Battaglia] disappears almost entirely from the film, even in voice-over, as it becomes more of a standard history of the rise and fall of La Cosa Nostra (…) Rating: ★★ (out of 4)"	NEU
United Kingdom	Kevin Maher The Times	"Fascinating tale frustrated by a reluctant subject (…) Rating: ★★ (out of 5)"	NEU
Ireland	Sarah Cullen Film Ireland	"Like Battaglia’s own photography (...) 'Shooting the Mafia' approaches Battaglia in an oblique manner, through her romantic relationships, her photography, and her political career."	POS
Ireland	Deirdre Molumby entertainment.ie	"The doc effectively, harrowingly communicates the pain of the individual and of the Sicilian nation due to the tyranny of the mafia (…) Rating: ★★★½ (out of 5)"	POS
Ireland	Alan Corr RTÉ	"A compelling and intimate portrait of how one woman fought back against the forces of evil (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS

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