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Loro 1
Movie

Loro 1

2018Unknown

Woke Score
5
out of 10

Plot

"Loro", in two parts, is a period movie that chronicles, as a fiction story, events likely happened in Italy (or even made up) between 2006 and 2010. "Loro" wants to suggest in portraits and glimps, through a composite constellation of characters, a moment in history, now definitively ended, which can be described in a very summary picture of the events as amoral, decadent but extraordinarily alive. Additionally, "Loro" wishes to tell the story of some Italians, fresh and ancient people at the same time: souls from a modern imaginary Purgatory who, moved by heterogeneous intents like ambition, admiration, affection, curiosity, personal interests, establish to try and orbit around the walking Paradise that is the man named Silvio Berlusconi.

Overall Series Review

Loro 1, the first part of Paolo Sorrentino's diptych about Silvio Berlusconi, plunges into the moral abyss of the Italian elite during the mid-2000s. The film is a hyper-stylized and cynical portrait of power, wealth, and profound decadence, focusing on the entourage—the 'Loro' or 'Them'—who orbit the disgraced media tycoon to advance their own venal interests. The narrative centers on a young businessman, Sergio Morra, who leverages a 'harim of women' to procure access, influence, and political favors from corrupt Italian officials, all with the goal of catching the attention of Berlusconi. The film depicts a world defined by rampant hedonism, drug use, and the blatant commodification of women for sexual and political transaction. The story is an Italian insider's dissection of his own country's moment of spiritual and ethical collapse, presenting a moral vacuum where a life of 'sex and corruption' is the political agenda itself. The film is visually arresting but morally unsettling, with characters who are universally amoral, driven only by ambition and the worship of power.

Categorical Breakdown

Identity Politics2/10

The film's focus is on class and political/moral corruption, not race or intersectional hierarchy. The story critiques the wealthy, established Italian (white) elite, with no vilification of 'whiteness' as a distinct concept or forced insertion of diversity. Characters are judged solely by their ambition and capacity for corruption, which drives the plot.

Oikophobia8/10

The narrative intensely critiques Italian contemporary society, framing it as a 'doomed culture' and the Berlusconi era as a 'diseased' period marked by moral degradation and commodification. This is a severe form of civilizational self-hatred, where the home culture is depicted as fundamentally corrupt, narcissistic, and hedonistic.

Feminism2/10

The movie completely avoids 'Girl Boss' or 'Mary Sue' tropes. Instead, it portrays a world of extreme male chauvinism where women, particularly the young escorts, are systematically commodified and exploited as a transactional currency for political and business bribery. The depiction is of a toxic male-dominated power structure, which runs contrary to the modern feminist lens.

LGBTQ+2/10

The sexual content revolves entirely around heterosexual hedonism, exploitation, and the use of women by powerful men for sex and political gain. The storyline does not center alternative sexualities, deconstruct the nuclear family as a social construct, or engage with gender theory; the focus is on traditional vices within a corrupt, normative social structure.

Anti-Theism9/10

The core of the narrative is the total moral degradation of the characters, where corruption and a relentless pursuit of power are the political agenda, representing a profound spiritual vacuum. The film operates in a world of absolute moral relativism where objective truth and higher moral law have been entirely replaced by self-serving ambition and cynicism.