Marco Bellocchio Brings the Story of Enzo Tortora and His Fight for Justice to TV

Already in 2022, renowned Italian director Marco Bellocchio had told ANSA (Italian News Agency) about his desire to make a TV series about host Enzo Tortora “to tell the story of the great injustice he suffered while at the peak of his success with the show Portobello. That moment has now arrived.”

But let’s go in order. Television host Enzo Tortora was one of the most recognizable and beloved faces on Italian TV between the late 1970s and early 1980s. He created and hosted Portobello on public broadcaster Rai, a variety show featuring a parrot as its mascot. A randomly selected audience member would attempt to get the parrot to say their name in order to win a grand prize. The show also featured guests trying to sell their inventions while viewers at home called in with offers. Every Friday night, over twenty million Italians were glued to their televisions, in a carefree and cheerful Italy of those years, trying to move past the tense days of terrorism.

However, in 1983, the nation was shaken by the news of his arrest. Several Camorra informants accused him of mafia association and drug trafficking. Television networks repeatedly and mercilessly broadcast images of his arrest, and at the time, public opinion was divided between those who believed in his innocence and those who thought he was guilty, “more out of personal impressions of sympathy or antipathy than out of true knowledge of the legal facts,” lamented Leonardo Sciascia.

Only after three tumultuous years did Tortora finally receive justice. In 1986, he was acquitted by the Naples Court of Appeal, a verdict later upheld by Italian Supreme Court (Corte di Cassazione). He passed away the following year.

This complex personal and legal story will finally be told by Bellocchio in a series produced by Rai, titled Portobello. Set in the 1980s and produced by Our Films Spa and Kavac Film S.r.l., the series will be partly filmed in Sardinia. Shooting will begin on October 14 in Cagliari, lasting until the 21st, then move to Oristano from October 22 to 30, and finally to Sassari from October 31 to November 7.

“He [Tortora] was convicted and sentenced to prison because of a huge judiciary mistake,” Bellocchio said of his subject. “The authorities literally destroyed his family, his life, his professional career – and he died out of sheer grief”, declared the veteran director, who didn’t know Tortora personally but remembers following the scandal very closely at the time. “It showed Italian society. It was headline news in all of the major newspapers.”

Spurces: Ansa, Sardegna Film Commission