I just saw this great film by Elio Petri. I saw it for the firt time when I was a teenager, and I had already found it  very impressive.
The argument: a police officer, Chief of the Homicide squad, who has just been appointed director of the Political Section, calmly murdered his mistress, and filled her apartment for clues to prove that because of his status, he is "above all suspicion."
It is a mixture of absurd polar, virulent political satire,psychological analysis and philosophical reflection on the concept of power.
The allusions to fascism and Mussolini, and Italian politics of "the years of lead"are obvious, but the film remains highly topical: the  arrogant megalomaniac character who takes advantage of his position to be at above the law might look like some politicians (Berlusconi, of course, but also see what is happening in our democracies where freedom and justice are often flouted in favor of the most powerful ...). Gian Maria Volonte symbolizes literally (in the film, he has no name, he is simply "the Inspector"), the dangers, abuses related to all forms of power, whether political or personal : corruption, violence, impunity, injustice, evil... everything goes. He is also a character of flesh and bone, a tyrannical and petty official, with greasy hair and moist skin, who seeks to compensate for his sexual impotence by an authority outrageous. Arrogant with his subordinates, obsequious to his superiors, devoid of any conscience, he illustrates very well the concept of "the banality of evil" raised by Hannah Arendt about Eichmann. Do we know what we would do if we had absolute power?  can we be sure we would not be tempted to take advantage and  use it for personal purposes, even if it harms others?
How do we respond to the dictates of a higher authority?
The Milgram experiment developed around 1960 is, in this regard,  very worrying because it shows that over 60% of those who participated in this experiment were able to administer fatal electric shocks to another person, whether an authority considered  as competent (a scientist for example), orders them. Placed in this situation are we so sure we disobey an immoral order?
The sequence where the inspector shows his power of manipulation on a poor frightened man is particularly striking: close-ups on the two faces illustrate this struggle. The man, reflected in the sunglasses worn by the inspector, is completely subject to his authority and power.
The film ends with a dreamlike scene. Superiors and colleagues come to find the inspector at his home to reprimand him, as if he was a small boy who had made a small mistake. He cries and collapses like a kid. He presents material evidence of his guilt to the father figure (the Prefect of Police) who do not want to see them and destroy them. He is absolved of his crime ... and all rush on a buffet laid there in a corner of the room! Inspector wakes up and looks his colleagues who are about to happen. He welcomes them into the living room: a wide shot shows his big apartment , he presses a button and an electric curtain down on the windows ... like a theater curtain to conceal their evil machinations...
Then there is a quote from Kafka, who raises the reflection on a quasi-metaphysical level:"Watever impression he makes on us, he is the servant of the Law. He belongs to the Law and is not answerable to human judgement..."
 Moreover, the similarities to the novels of Kafka is obvious: lack of identity of the main character, a blend of realism and dreamlike, deliberately grotesque appearance of certain scenes, highlighting the absurdity of a system, the theme of father both admired and hated ...
This film seems to me to be the only convincing cinematic equivalent that I know of the work of Kafka.
A fascinating and complex film, to see, see again and meditate.