Whether or not this film was supposed to be powerful I don't know, but despite some ghastly images and a sort of documentary feel, Faccia di Spia is a mostly boring Italian effort. The film, as the English title ('C.I.A. Spy Story') suggests focuses on events surrounding the C.I.A. I'm very interested in sickening filthy cinema, but most of this film is concerned with army related stuff and it really turned me off. There are a few good scenes of torture, however, and they include people having their limbs chopped off, eyes gouged out, set on fire and some unfortunate soul gets a piece of metal inserted into his penis. These scenes may prove to be of interest for some; and indeed they may have for me too if they were involved in a more interesting film. I'm guessing that this film was meant to put a bad light on the C.I.A., and it may have succeeded in doing that for some, but not for me. Italy has made a million exploitation films like this one, and that considerably lessens its impact as rather than showing the ills of the C.I.A. - it just shows that the Italians found a new way to film exploitation. Overall, I can't really recommend this film...although it may appeal to some.
Review of Faccia di spia
