User Reviews

This is some kind of stranger. It isn't banned but it's hard to find, mostly you can find it at specialized shops or at conventions. The strange thing about it is that it's been hunted by the geeks and if it is available at conventions it's the first thing to get sold out. It's weird because the flick itself isn't really entertaining but rather boring except for some shots. It tells the story of the CIA being involved in coups in south America. The director (Giuseppe Ferrara) uses original and broadcasted footage combined with storylined features. The original footage contains some gory shots like beheaded bodies. The flick starts of well with the original footage but once the actors come in it's boredom all around. It's a lot of blah blah. I waited to see what the fuss was all about. I thought, well, maybe it's the mother of bloody real footage, 4 years later Faces Of Death comes out, except for the Mondo Cane's coming from the 60's. Luckily being an Italian movie it is available in dubbed English. In the beginning the language changes from Italian to English (on the same track so a bit annoying) but it only appears in the beginning. It takes exactly 1 hour before the torture comes in. And that is really not for the squeamish. First you see a girl captured standing naked on two open cans, of course her feet starts bleeding, being hit by the men surrounding her they start burning her nipples. Afterwards she's been raped but in a position you just can't believe. If you can stand that then the hardest part comes, A metal pin is inserted into a penis, imagine that, once the pin inserted it's being heated! Next scene you see eels being inserted into a vagina, you really see them going in! If you want to see that be sure to watch the full uncut. Also the last minute of this weird flick shows the WTC start bleeding, it's so realistic knowing that 26 years later (9/11) this shot becomes reality. A strange movie, but indeed worth catching for the real footage and the torture scene's.

I really only checked FACCIA DI SPIA out because of the torture scenes that have been hyped about it - and honestly, that's the only thing of interest in this one. The film is reminiscent of the "mondo" films of the era, and with the "strong" torture scenes, it also sorta reminded me of MEN BEHIND THE SUN - though not nearly as powerful or interesting.

The film itself is a propaganda-style fictional recreation of events based on actual situations concerning the CIA.

Most of the events portrayed were of little interest to me and most of the film is quiet dull. The acting is sub-par, and again - the only thing I found of any real interest were a few decent torture scenes that included metal-rod-penis-insertion, a strong rape scene, an eel-insertion, an arm-hacking-offing, and an eyeball removal. I can confidently say that this film should be a "pass" for most viewers and would only be recommended for sleaze-film completists - and although the torture scenes are decent, they are short and aren't anything that are so interesting as to make it a must-see...4/10

It seems that most IMDb reviewers of this film have come to it because of its reputation as a 'mondo movie', but Faccia di spia is actually a serious attempt to tell the story of American foreign policy since the Second World War. It works periodically, but is let down by an overlong 'dramatic' section in the middle of the film about a reporter covering a Central American insurgency. At its best, Faccia di spia blends documentary footage of the CIA-funded coups against Jacobo Arbenz and Salvador Allende with dramatic recreations of those events. Some of the casting is remarkable: the actors depicting Allende, Augusto Pinochet, and Allen Dulles are impressive lookalikes. The film ends with a chillingly prescient animated sequence that may disturb some viewers as much as, if not more than, the (realistic and unexaggerated) torture sequences that earned this film a place in the Mondo Hall of Fame.