In the 1980s, a silent revolution took place in Italy; not through the ballot box or in the streets, but through television. From the rise of Fininvest to Silvio Berlusconi’s political debuts, The Revolution Will be Televised investigates how private televisions transformed the public’s relationship to information, power, and democracy. Through firsthand accounts from those who built this system like Marcello dell’Utri, Giancarlo Galan or Carlo Freccero, the film reveals how entertainment, advertising, and media concentration paved the way for a new political era in Europe. How can television durably reshape a country’s political culture?
Giancarlo Galan, Carlo Freccero and Carlo Momigliano. They were all dynamic young executives, aged between 25 and 30, when they found themselves at the heart of the Berlusconi machine. They would become his closest associates – the men who brought ‘Baywatch’ and ’The Simpsons’ to Italian TV. They were the first to apply tv marketing strategies to politics and, in doing so, they created a new brand of populism.
Now Silvio is dead and the promise of wealth and prosperity for all was not fulfilled. Instead, their ideas poisoned popular debate and polarised societies all over the world. Today, Berlusconi’s closest allies are allelderly men who are asking themselves questions. “Our impact on the world has been catastrophic…our generation has to be brave enough to acknowledge the evil that came from our ideology.”
We went to meet them to find out where it all went wrong.