While pursuing a story in Mogadishu, Somalia, in 1994, Italian investigative reporter Ilaria Alpi and her cameraman Miran Hrovatin were brutally murdered for uncovering what was later discovered to be one of the largest governmental corruption scandals in European history. Director Ferdinando Vincentini Orgnani retells the journalists' final month prior to their murder in his 2003 drama Ilaria Alpi: Il Più Crudele Dei Giorni (The Cruelest Day). The younger and more career-driven Alpi (portrayed by
Giovanna Mezzogiorno) has been incessantly investigating the money that Italian humanitarian organizations have been donating to Third World countries under the auspices of building roads and generally improving the beneficiary countries' infrastructure. Meeting Hrovatin (Rade Sherbedgia) after beginning her investigation, the two uncover the shocking truth: These "humanitarian organizations" are actually fronts for secret Italian governmental agencies who are shipping tons of toxic waste to these countries for surreptitious disposal. Just as Alpi and Hrovatin begin to dig deeper into their story, they are ambushed and killed -- but not before the truth had been revealed to an unsuspecting European populace. Ilaria Alpi: Il Più Crudele Dei Giorni was selected for inclusion into the 2003 Montreal World Film Festival. ~ Ryan Shriver, All Movie Guide