The artist’s manifesto

Understanding the dilemmas facing a growing dystopian world through a prescient 1971 Oscar-winning Italian film

Global democracy appears to be in decline with the rise of populist, majoritarian, neo-fascist, or right-wing authoritarian governments across the world. Experts from the fields of social and political psychology have theorised the inner workings of authoritarian minds. Essentially speaking, such personalities are bullies, but they are bullies with political power at their disposal. Recent events have shown that many of the newly elected authoritarian leaders, apart from being undemocratic in spirit and anti-minority in orientation, also deliver poor quality of governance. Yet, why is there such little collective reaction from citizens, especially those supporters of the regime who otherwise may have joined protests, voted against the regime or at least turned vocal?

A piece of art that bridges the gap and best describes the psychology and the pathology of such regimes and their tactics, exemplified in the personalities of their leaders, is Italian filmmaker Elio Petri’s Oscar-winning feature film, Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion 1970).