Monteleone, Enzo

(1954-)

   Screenwriter and director. One of the most prominent of the younger generation of screenwriters to emerge during the 1980s, Monteleone scripted several films for Gabriele Salvatores including Kamikazen, ultima notte a Milano (Kamikazen, Last Night in Milan, 1987) and the Oscar-winning Mediterraneo (1991). After also collaborating with Spanish director Carlos Saura on the screenplay of the revenge thriller jDispara! (Outrage, 1993), he ventured into directing with La vera vita di Antonio H (The True Life of Antonio H, 1994), a clever self-reflexive film performed as one continuous monologue delivered by veteran actor Antonio Haber. This was followed by Ormai e fatta (Outlaw, 1999) and El Alamein (El Alamein: The Line of Fire, 2002), a powerful war film that won much critical acclaim but that was also attacked by conservative critics for its less-than-heroic portrayal of Italian soldiers. Most recently Monteleone wrote and directed for television Il tunnel della liberta (The Tunnel of Freedom, 2004), the story of two Italians who dug their way to freedom under the Berlin Wall in 1961.

   Historical Dictionary of Italian Cinema by Alberto Mira