← Back to Directory
The Salamander
Movie

The Salamander

1981 • Unknown

Woke Score
1
out of 10

Plot

An Italian policeman investigates a series of murders involving people in prominent positions. Left behind at each murder scene is a drawing of a salamander. The policeman begins to suspect these murders are linked to a plot to seize control of the government.

Overall Series Review

The Salamander is a high-stakes 1981 political thriller centered on an Italian Carabinieri Colonel, Dante Matucci, who uncovers a secret neo-fascist conspiracy plotting to overthrow the Italian government. The film follows Matucci’s investigation into a series of political murders, with the symbol of the salamander left at each scene. The plot is a classical espionage-murder mystery that pits an incorruptible national policeman against powerful, corrupt members of his own country's elite establishment. The hero's patriotism and commitment to his country's legal structure drive the narrative, placing him in direct conflict with an internal enemy seeking to dismantle the government. The central themes are duty, institutional corruption, and political intrigue, with a notable lack of modern social or identity-based messaging. The casting features an international ensemble, including Cleavon Little as a key American ally, whose participation is defined by his military role rather than his race.

Categorical Breakdown

Identity Politics2/10

The conflict focuses on merit and corruption within the Italian political-military structure, not immutable characteristics or race. The protagonist, an Italian Colonel, is the moral hero. His key ally is a Black American Major, Cleavon Little, whose inclusion is purely contextual, being an old army friend who helps on an espionage mission, reflecting a colorblind casting and a universal standard of character integrity. The plot does not lecture on privilege, nor is there forced insertion of diversity or vilification of 'whiteness.'

Oikophobia1/10

The narrative is built around a patriotic Italian Colonel actively defending the legitimate government and Western institutions from a coup by neo-fascist conspirators. The film frames the national institutions—the Carabinieri and the state itself—as worth fighting for, making the hero a protector of his home culture and nation. The enemy is corruption and the desire to re-establish fascism, which is presented as fundamentally evil, reinforcing the sanctity of the established democratic order.

Feminism1/10

Gender dynamics are traditional. The female characters are primarily depicted as the General's wife or a deceased man's mistress, roles explicitly noted by the hero as 'pussycats' to the 'lions of power.' The protagonist is a masculine, duty-bound Colonel who is physically capable, and there is no evidence of a 'Girl Boss' trope or male characters being systematically emasculated. Motherhood or anti-natalism is not a theme.

LGBTQ+1/10

The plot is entirely focused on political intrigue, murder, and espionage. There are no elements related to sexual ideology, centering of alternative sexualities, or deconstruction of the nuclear family unit. The film maintains a normative structure by focusing on traditional male-female pairings and heterosexual relations being private aspects of the characters' lives, not subjects for public lecturing.

Anti-Theism1/10

The core theme of the film is political corruption and the threat of a fascist coup d'état. The narrative has no detected hostility toward religion, specifically Christianity. Morality is framed in objective terms: the protagonist is the good man fighting a clear, destructive, evil political force. Faith is not a major plot point, but there is an acknowledgment of a higher moral law through the hero's unflinching sense of duty and objective truth.