Il signor Diavolo (2019)

Rome, 1952. Furio Momenté, a young official in the Ministry of Grace and Justice, is sent to Venice to follow a highly sensitive case: fourteen-year-old Carlo Mongiorgi has killed a boy his own age, Emilio Vestri Musy, claiming that Emilio is actually the devil. The trial could prove damaging to the Christian Democracy government, since the crime was fueled by religious superstition and involves a sacristan and a nun. Emilio’s mother, Clara, was also a fervent supporter of the Christian Democrats, but after what happened she became a bitter enemy of both the Church and the government. Furio’s task is to conduct a parallel investigation and find evidence that disproves the prelates’ involvement and helps cover up the case. On the train to Venice, Furio reads the investigation files, which recount the story of the crime. One year earlier. Carlo, who lives in Lio Piccolo, is inseparable from his best friend Paolino. They attend catechism classes taught by the sacristan Gino, who teaches them to fear the devil but also to respect him, even going so far as to call him “Signor Devil.” One day, Emilio joins their catechism class. The boy, heir to a noble Venetian family, has a dark reputation in the village because of a deformity: his upper teeth are almost like a pig’s. People say that his mother conceived him by mating with a wild boar, and that when he was little he savagely bit his newborn baby sister to death out of jealousy. One day, Paolino shoots out the light on Emilio’s bicycle with his slingshot while Emilio is learning to ride it. Emilio flies into a rage and attacks Paolino. Days later, during the boys’ First Communion, he gets his revenge by tripping Paolino, causing him to step on the consecrated host. This brings the Mass to a halt and invalidates the sacrament. The shame of what happened makes Paolino seriously ill, and he dies a few days later. Carlo feels lost without Paolino, so, following the sacristan’s instructions, he approaches Emilio. Emilio tells him how he can feel his dead friend’s presence again: he must feed a consecrated host to a pig. Carlo does so and, in fact, receives signs that Paolino is there beside him. But soon this terrifies him, and he tells his parents everything. They turn to their cousin Dolores, a nun at the village convent, who suggests buying the pig, killing it, and then burning it to atone for the sacrilege. They do so, but on the way home Carlo’s father dies, apparently shot by the same rifle he used to kill the pig. Left alone, Carlo discovers that Emilio has watched the whole scene from hiding in the darkness. Emilio accuses him of killing the pig, and Carlo strikes him with a stone from Paolino’s slingshot, killing him. In Clara Vestri Musy’s testimony, Furio reads a different version of events. She reveals that her son suffered from epilepsy, for which he had undergone electroshock treatment and various operations, including exposure to radiation, which had caused his deformity and mental problems. In an effort to help him, she and her husband had adopted a premature, orphaned baby girl, who had nevertheless died of natural causes, not from Emilio’s bites. Clara blames what happened on popular superstition and religious fanaticism. She openly accuses Father Amedeo, a priest who allegedly performed an exorcism on Emilio, as well as Don Zanini, the archpriest of Lio Piccolo, the sacristan Gino, and Sister Dolores, whose rumors allegedly led Carlo to believe Emilio was the devil’s son. When Furio arrives in Venice, he receives a mysterious package containing a pig’s severed canine teeth, and hears the incessant crying of a newborn. In the city, he speaks with the doctor who performed Emilio’s autopsy. The doctor tells him there were irregularities and that the body was buried before a thorough examination could be carried out. Furio also discovers that Don Zanini and Sister Dolores are dead. He tracks down Father Amedeo, but the priest remains evasive and does not tell him whether he actually performed an exorcism or whether he himself believes the crime was caused by superstition. Finally, Clara approaches Furio. He proposes that she withdraw her accusations against the people involved in the case; otherwise, he will have Emilio’s body exhumed so that a proper autopsy can be conducted. She seems willing to cooperate, but because Furio’s investigation has drawn attention to him and the Ministry, he is removed from the assignment and recalled to Rome. Furio is now personally involved in the case, so, defying orders, he goes to Lio Piccolo of his own accord and continues investigating in order to clear Carlo once and for all. In the village, he is approached by the sacristan Gino. First, Gino tells him that when Emilio died, Clara had asked for his canine teeth to be removed, and these are presumably the teeth sent to Furio. Then he shows Furio a hidden document recounting how Emilio’s baby sister’s dismembered body, mauled by the boy, was abandoned at the church. If the body were found, it would prove once and for all that Clara’s story was false. Gino reveals that he buried the body in the church crypt. Furio climbs down into it and does indeed find the body (the clothing prevents the viewer from seeing whether it bears any bite marks). Before Furio can get out of the underground chamber, Gino closes the access hatch, trapping him inside. The last thing Furio sees is Carlo, standing behind Gino, smiling and showing teeth that seem to be taking on a shape like a pig’s.