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‘Renaissance: The Blood and the Beauty' Review: On PBS, a Mixed View of Three Towering Masters

‘Renaissance: The Blood and the Beauty' Review: On PBS, a Mixed View of Three Towering Masters

In Italy for 30 years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love—they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.
So long, Holly. Yes, the aforementioned was delivered in 'The Third Man' by Orson Welles, who might have acknowledged the Medicis, too. But his words otherwise sum up 'Renaissance: The Blood and the Beauty,' the ambitious, three-episode account of Italy's artistic apogee and three monumental figures in European art—Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael (no Turtle jokes please). The fact that three geniuses could elevate human achievement itself amid city-states ripped by political warfare and religious oppression is one of the prime anomalies of human history. Likewise, the convergence of so much talent in such a relatively small space (mostly Florence, sometimes Rome). It is an astonishing thing. Less amusing is the sense that the makers of 'Renaissance' seem to think they're revealing all this history to a viewership emerging from its own Dark Ages.
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To take a story in which an innocent 20-year-old is not only found guilty of a murder she did not commit but is also portrayed globally as a conniving slut, and somehow make her slightly unsympathetic is some achievement. So much of what the drama tells us is true – Knox was maligned and mistreated, she was wronged and slandered, she had her life ripped away from her and transformed into something beyond her control and was courageous throughout it all. And yet by shoving these ideas down our throats, by turning her accusers into pantomime villains or bungling idiots, the drama does Knox a disservice. It would be wrong to say that the series forgets about Kercher. But The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox makes her a sideshow to Knox's act of redemption and forgiveness. 'Telling your own story is a sticky, tricky thing,' says Knox. You can add icky to that, on this evidence. The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox is available on Disney+ now Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more. Solve the daily Crossword

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