One Way or Another (1976)

What makes One Way or Another feel so bracing today is how it turns political rot into something you can practically smell in the air: a closed-door retreat where piety and power share the same cramped rooms, and neither comes out clean. Elio Petri stages the film like a pressure cooker—part mystery, part moral autopsy—using claustrophobic spaces, razor-edged dialogue, and a steadily tightening rhythm to make every glance and gesture feel implicated. The crimes that ripple through the story aren’t just plot mechanics; they’re the film’s way of exposing hypocrisy with a cold, darkly comic precision that still feels relevant. It’s not a cozy thriller and it doesn’t offer easy catharsis, but if you want political cinema with bite, craft, and nerves of steel, this is the kind you remember.

One Way or Another is clearly aiming for a sharp political-religious allegory, using a retreat of Christian Democrat politicians and a string of crimes to expose how power rots behind closed doors. The problem is it often feels more like an opaque mood piece than a gripping thriller: the storytelling can be messy and unfocused, with characters blurring together and scenes that keep you at arm’s length emotionally. If you need a clear mystery spine, distinct personalities, or a strong point of identification, this may come off as difficult and, frankly, dull. Still, if you’re patient with ambiguity and you like claustrophobic, unsettling atmospheres that prioritize ideas over momentum, there’s something intriguingly sour and provocative here.