Italian superstar Michele Placido (The Octopus/La Piovra) stars as Christian Democrat leader Aldo Moro in the true story of his 1978 kidnapping by a Communist faction in Rome. Premieres June 6th on MHz Choice!
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It’s hard for Americans to understand the shock waves that went across Italy and the world when statesman Aldo Moro was kidnapped on March 16, 1978. He had served two terms as Prime Minister of Italy – from 1963 to 1968, and from 1974 to 1976. He was a prominent member of the Christian Democracy party, and is considered one of the most beloved political figures in modern Italian history.
Members of a Communist faction called the Red Brigades did the kidnapping; they were trying to bargain for the release of several prisoners. They were all in their twenties and passionately involved in party activities – some had already participated in other kidnappings. At the time of his kidnapping, Moro was working to create a coalition that involved participation of the Italian Communist party with the Christian Democrats. Regardless of one’s political views, most people can agree that he was a tenacious, skilled negotiator and a bridge builder. On the day he was taken, his bodyguards and police escort – five young men, were killed.
We spoke with Pasquale Intermoia, from the Italian Cultural Institute in Washington, DC. about what he remembers from those days.
MHz: Where were you living when the kidnapping happened?
Pasquale: I was at Pozzuoli in Naples, where I was born and grew up. The day when it happened, I was in elementary school, in my classroom. We got the news from my teacher.
MHz: How old were you?
Pasquale: I think I was about nine. At first we saw the adults, they were huddled and talking together in the hall outside our classroom. They seemed very concerned and we could tell something was wrong. We didn’t fully understand right away what it was. Then the teacher explained that the former prime minister was kidnapped. And we started to understand that it was something really bad.
MHz: What do you remember about the discussion of it at home or outside of school?
Pasquale: I remember that everybody spoke in very good terms of Moro, because he was a uniter, somebody who was trying to unite the left and the right, in Italy at the time. One big coalition. So people had positive things to say about him and everybody was shocked. They were explaining how somebody who was doing so many good things for the country was all of a sudden taken away from politics.
MHz: Do you remember hearing the news when he was killed?
Pasquale: Yeah, it was shocking because everybody was hoping that he would be released, at the end. Nobody was expecting such an extreme outcome.
Aldo Moro, starring Michele Placido, will be available on MHz Choice on June 6th!
