Portobello

In the early 1980s, Italian audiences watched Enzo Tortora (Fabrizio Gifuni) on their televisions every Friday evening. The presenter had created a popular program named for London’s Portobello Market, during which audience members from home could call in to buy or sell items or present ideas. A member of the live studio audience or a special guest would try their hand at enticing the show’s mascot, a green parrot, to say his own name: Portobello.

So Italians were stunned when, out of the blue, Tortora was arrested and charged with illegal drug trafficking activities in connection to the Camorra, the notorious Neapolitan crime organization. Giovanni Pandico (Lino Musella) — a close associate of the syndicate’s head and a dedicated Portobello viewer — had lost faith in the organization and became a pentito: an informant. In a long list of names and criminal activities that Pandico gave to authorities, one name — Enzo Tortora — seemed beyond belief. Yet that identification triggered a nightmarish years-long legal battle, as Tortora fought to clear his name and free himself from an overzealous criminal justice system.

From the producers behind My Brilliant Friend and The Young Pope, this limited series features powerful performances and sharp attention to the period in Italian history that saw television, the justice system, and organized crime undergoing a wave of change. Written and directed by master filmmaker Marco Bellocchio — recognized as a TIFF Luminary at this year’s Festival — Portobello sees the director in his finest form: interrogating the institutions that subjugate citizens while showing the deeply human cost behind systems of power.

GEOFF MACNAUGHTON