The Innocent Sleep (1996)

User Rating:

5.4/10   

Director:

Scott Michell

Writer:

Ray Villis (writer)

Release Date:

26 January 1996 (UK)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

Plot:

The young, bright and decent London tramp Alan Terry accidentally witnesses a mob execution. He gets away...

Plot Keywords:

Masonic | Independent Film

Cast

Oliver Cotton	...	Lusano
Tony Bluto	...	Thorn
Paul Brightwell	...	Pelham
Michael Gambon	...	Det. Insp. Matheson
Rupert Graves	...	Alan Terry
Campbell Morrison	...	Mac
Graham Crowden	...	George
Franco Nero	...	Adolfo Cavani
Hilary Crowson	...	Sheila Terry
Kieran Smith	...	Newspaper Vendor
Sean Gilder	...	Police Constable
Brian Lipson	...	Police Sergeant
Dermot Kerrigan	...	Willie
Dermot Keaney	...	Driver
Alex Giannini	...	Thug (as Alex Richardson)

MPAA:

Rated R for violence and language.

Runtime:

110 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

London, England, UK

Company:

Timedial Films

Trivia:

Inspired by the case of Roberto Calvi, "God's Banker", found hanging under Blackfriars Bridge in 1982. Originally treated as suicide, an Italian inquiry has now established that Calvi was murdered.

Movie Connections:

References Mary Poppins (1964)

Enjoyable dramatisation of a real-life murder mystery

This enjoyable little thriller has an old-fashioned feel and is none the worse for that. Rupert Graves is surprisingly good as a Scouse drifter, sleeping rough near Tower Bridge, who witnesses a murder. Attempts to report the crime to the police go awry when he realises that the detective investigating the case is one of the killers.

The story is a lightly-fictionalised account of the P2 masonic lodge scandal that led to the fall of the Italian government in May 1981 after revelations of infiltration by members of the illegal masonic lodge. (P2 stands for Propaganda Due). Licio Gelli, the Master of the lodge, was a former fascist and CIA officer working in league with Roberto Calvi, the President of Banco Ambrosiano of Milan, who was already in prison accused of illicit export of capital.

One of Gelli's protégés was Michele Sindona, a banker connected with the Mafia, who had previously managed the funds of the Vatican and embezzled several billion lira. Sindona escaped to the US where he was apprehended and sentenced to 25 years imprisonment for fraudulent bankruptcy. (An inspector who had been making inquiries about him was mysteriously killed.)

As for Calvi, he was found dangling from a noose beneath Blackfriars Bridge in London, his pockets and waistband stuffed with bricks. Ever since, questions have persisted about how he died. At first, a London coroner concluded it was suicide. However, his son and widow, who live in Montreal, have doggedly tried to prove that Roberto Calvi was killed.

As chairman of Banco Ambrosiano, he was an influential financier who was nicknamed "God's banker" because of his close ties to the Vatican. In June, 1982, a year after being convicted of massive currency violations in Italy and with his bank teetering on collapse, he vanished. A week later, he was found hanging from scaffolding beneath Blackfriars Bridge, over the Thames. Banco Ambrosiano subsequently collapsed with enormous debts in a $1.3-billion (U.S.) bankruptcy.

This suspected murder forms the premise of Scott Michell's film. It is atmospherically photographed, largely at night (watch it with the lights out, or you won't be able to make out a thing) and benefits greatly from an excellent music score by the young British composer Mark Ayres, which recalls the work of John Barry at some points.