USA
BETRAYED
1988 – 35mm – c - 127’
Direction: Constantin Costa Gavras
Screenplay: Joe Eszterhas
Cinematography: Patrick Blossier
Editing: Joële Van Effenterre
Set design: Patrizia von Brandenstein
Music: Bill Conti
Costumes: Joe I. Tompkins
Cast: Debra Winger, Tom Berenger, John Heard
Produzione Production: CST telecommunications, Inwin Winkler Productions, United Artists
SYNOPSIS
Under a false name, detective Cathy Weaver has been sent by Michael Carnes from FBI to Midwest in order to investigate on the brutal murder of a Jewish anti-racist journalist, discussed anchor man of Radio Chicago. The evidence points to Gary Simmons, with whom Cathy has soon a love affair. Gary is a Vietnam veteran and respected widowed farmer living in a farm with his two young children, Rachel and Joey, and his mother Gladys. While the tie between the two gets stronger, Cathy finds out that, in that quiet rural area, some racist fanatics, led by Gary and secretly protected by the police and by some politics, have killed Jewish and black people in a macabre game called Zog.
CRITICAL NOTE
“This is not the first film on Ku Klux Klan and on American Fascist right wing, but the point of view is quite new: racism as an illness of the soul, the roots of violence and intolerance of common people (…). It is a strong film that in its pessimism hits the target, enlightened by the presence of intense D.Winger.” (Morandini)
