Elio Petri Biography
Elio Petri was born in Rome in 1929 into a family of artisan origins and spent his childhood in the working-class suburbs of the city. From a young age he was interested in cinema and politics, and was expelled from the religious school of S. Giuseppe de Merode for political reasons. Petri became involved in the Italian Communist Party after the Second World War and began working in the field of cinema in the first film clubs, first as a critic on "l'Unità" and "Gioventù nuova", and then as one of the animators of the magazine " Open City".
During the 1950s, Petri wrote an essay on Elia Kazan for "Città Aperto" and collaborated on the screenplay of "A Husband for Anna Zacchaeus" (1953) as assistant director and screenwriter alongside Giuseppe De Santis. In 1956, Petri was one of the signatories of the "Manifesto of the 101", an explicit attack on the political management of the Soviet invasion of Hungary by P. Togliatti.
Petri directed many successful films, including "The Numbered Days" (1962), "The Tenth Victim" (1965), and "To Each His Own" (1967). He collaborated with actors such as Gian Maria Volontè and screenwriters such as Ugo Pirro, who contributed to the creation of his uncompromising and caustic cinematographic style.
Petri has directed films in various genres, including crime, comedy, drama and science fiction, and in each of them he was original and innovative. Among his lesser-known works is "Documents on Giuseppe Pinelli" (1970), filmed after the Piazza Fontana massacre, which testifies to his constant political commitment.
Petri died in 1982. His filmography remains an important contribution to the Italian cinema panorama and an example for today's young directors.
