A populist tabloid newspaper tries to derail the official police investigation of a brutal murder in order to help the right-wing candidates in the upcoming elections.
1972, Milan. We are just a few days before the general elections. The daughter of a well-known professor is found dead. Mr Bizanti, editor-in-chief of newspaper "Il Giornale", assigns the junior reporter Roveda and the senior contributor Lauri to cover the story. At one point, some elements in the investigation point to a young left-wing student, who becomes a scapegoat for the newspaper's readership. The paper derails the investigation, leading the police to a false culprit. But young Roveda doesn't surrender and continues to search for the truth.
"A dark socio-political melodrama by the imaginative Marco Bellocchio, who constructs an absurd, but undoubtedly gripping, tale between crime and detective story." (Massimo Bertarelli, Il Giornale)