Open Doors (Porte Aperte) is a 1990 film from Italy, directed by Gianni Amelio.
The setting is 1937 Palermo—so, Fascist Italy. One Tommasco Scalia, an accountant with the Confederation of Workers and Artists, meets with his boss, Spadafora. It seems that Scalia has been fired for misappropriation of funds. He asks for mercy from Spadafora but is rebuffed. Then Scalia pulls out a long bayonet and stabs his boss to death. Scalia then strolls out of his boss's office and down a few doors to the office of Speciale, the guy who took his job, and murders him too. Before the crimes are discovered Scalia calmly walks out of City Hall to where his wife Rosa idly waits by the car. After they drive out of town into the countryside, he rapes her, and murders her too. Then he drives home, where he's arrested.
Enter the protagonist, Judge Vito di Francesco (Gian Maria Volonte). Vito is not exactly anti-Fascist, which is why he still has a job. However he is against the death penalty, which had been banned but was brought back by the Fascists when they took power in 1922. The case seems to be open and shut, as no one argues that Scalia did it and Scalia himself demands the death penalty. Still, Vito insists on a full inquiry, and he begins to uncover new and troubling information.
Tropes:
- All for Nothing: As Vito and the farmer who served on the jury commiserate about the trial, Vito notes ruefully that he has been removed from his position and their verdict will likely be nullified. Sure enough, the closing title card notes that the authorities overruled the verdict and Scalia was executed.
- As You Know: Some background info about Vito, namely that he is a widower with a 10-year-old daughter, is brought out by a nephew who recites a poem he wrote about his uncle.
- Blade-of-Grass Cut: A closeup of wheat in the field leads in to a scene where Vito goes for a walk with one of the jurors, a farmer who swung the jury to a verdict of life imprisonment.
- By-the-Book Cop: By-the-book prosecutor/judge. Signora Spadafora, who clammed up when she was brought to court to testify, approaches Vito outside of court and offers to spill her secrets of whatever her husband and Scalia and the others were up to. Vito, however, is very serious about following proper legal procedure, and tells the widow that he can't talk to her.
- Corrupt Bureaucrat: The entire Fascist administration in Palermo, it seems. Scalia points out to Spadafora that everybody was doing it, but Spadafora doesn't listen, because Scalia's been designated the fall guy. At his trial a defiant Scalia goes on a rant about endemic corruption in government, until the presiding judge has him forcibly removed. Later the hospital administrator is grudgingly admitting an embezzlement scheme to Vito when the presiding judge cuts him off.
- Domestic Abuse: The trial eventually reveals that Scalia whored his wife out to Spadafora, against her will. Scalia's chauffeur reveals that one time, when he arrived to pick up Signora Scalia to be delivered to Spadafora, she was crying and had a busted nose.
- Face Framed in Shadow: In the first scene where Scalia is asking Spadafora for his job back because everybody was stealing money, Spadafora's office is dimly lit with light coming through the curtains. Both men's faces are framed in shadow and the mood is ominous so it comes as no surprise when Scalia pulls out a big knife and stabs his old boss.
- Law Procedural: A courtroom drama in which a judge (judges in European systems examining witnesses and doing the fact-finding) in a murder trial seeks to discover the truth behind a seemingly Open-and-Shut Case.
- Rape as Drama: In a very disturbing scene, Signora Scalia is complaining about having to sell the car when her husband attacks her and rapes her. Then, as she's crying and staggering towards a shrine to the Virgin Mary, he comes up from behind and shoots her in the head.
- Rule of Symbolism: When Scalia stabs Spadafora, the map of Italy on Spadafora's desk is spattered with blood. The symbolism is very obvious.
- Stealing from the Till: As the film begins Scalia is being fired for embezzling from the local government. It soon becomes clear that the whole government is corrupt and Scalia is only the fall guy.
- Title Drop: As the presiding judge and a high-ranking Fascist official lean on Vito to stop being so inconveniently curious, the bureaucrat says that if the government starts executing people, the citizens of Palermo will feel free to leave their doors unlocked at night.
- The Unreveal: Vito calls the local hospital chief to testify and gets him to admit that Scalia was making mysterious cash transfers from the Workers and Artists bureau to the hospital. The presiding judge, a loyal Fascist Party man who is trying to restrain Vito's inconvenient inquiry, cuts the line of questioning off. Later, Spadafora's widow approaches him outside of court and offers to tell him much more of whatever skullduggery was going on in the local government. Vito, a by-the-book prosecutor, tells her that he can't speak to her outside of a courtroom setting. Nothing more is learned of whatever the hospital chief or Signora Spadafora were going to say.
- Villain Opening Scene: The film opens with Scalia committing three murders, the rape and murder of his wife being the most horrifying. Then the film moves to Judge di Francesco.
- Widow's Weeds: Signora Spadafora is so dressed when she is called into the courtroom to testify, which is ironic, since she actually doesn't seem very upset at all about her husband's death.
