Berlusconi blasted in earthquake film

Cannes witnessed a blistering attack on Silvio Berlusconi on Thursday with a Michael Moore-style documentary portraying the Prime Minister as a vampire sucking the blood out of Italy.

Italy's culture minister boycotted the film festival to protest against the documentary's screening here because he said it was "a propaganda film... that insults the truth and the Italian people."

Draquila - Italy Trembles accuses Mr Berlusconi of using last year's deadly earthquake in the central Italian town of L'Aquila to boost his image at a time when it was tarnished by a series of lurid sex scandals.

But stand-up-comic-turned-director Sabina Guzzanti broadens her film out to charge that the Prime Minister's response to the quake perfectly illustrates his allegedly nefarious techniques.

"Italy is not a dictatorship today but it's no longer a democracy," she said. "There's no physical violence but there is slander and you can lose your job."

"It's like this right across Italy I think," she said, adding: "Information is manipulated and the rate of corruption is quite high."

Ms Guzzanti, 46, already took aim at Mr Berlusconi in 2005 with Viva Zapatero!, which blasted the government's attempts to censor comedians.

She now accuses him of rewriting Italy's laws to try to turn the state into a giant and increasingly authoritarian enterprise to make himself and his cronies richer. "A tragic earthquake, shocking corruption and massive abuse of power: Even for Italians accustomed to their country's scandals, Draquila is a kick in the gut," was Variety film magazine's verdict on the documentary.

The film, which received a round of applause at its Cannes press screening on Thursday, argues that the Prime Minister used the April 2009 catastrophe as a means to rebound after several sex scandals.

The quake killed 308 people and devastated the mediaeval mountain city, leaving 80,000 people homeless.

As tens of thousands of residents were bussed off to coastal hotels or tent cities, where they lived under military rule, Mr Berlusconi promised them new homes and symbolically relocated a G8 summit to the ruined city.

But a year on, L'Aquila is still a ghost town, guarded by soldiers and off-limits to most, while lodging for the displaced has been built far from the city at three times the projected cost.

Ms Guzzanti's expose takes a close look at the central role in the quake response of Guido Bertolaso, a friend of Mr Berlusconi and head of the Civil Protection Agency.

The agency has the power, in the event of a national emergency, to make decisions that temporarily override existing laws.

Ms Guzzanti shows its remit has been changed to allow it take such decisions for "major events" as well.