| “ | Maggots! Vermin! You want the world for nothing. Commence you groveling! Rotti your king is dying. Even Rotti Largo cannot prevent this passing! Who will inherit GeneCo? I'll keep those vultures guessing. | „ |
| ~ Rotti singing "Things You See In A Graveyard" |
Rottissimo "Rotti" Largo is the main antagonist of the 2008 musical film, "Repo! The Genetic Opera". He is the owner of GeneCo, a large enterprise responsible for organ implants and transplants that came to be after a large surge of epidemic organ diseases devastated the future world.
He was portrayed by Paul Sorvino who also played Alphonse Perrier du von Scheck.
Early life
After becoming the head of GeneCo, Rotti was supposed to marry a woman named Marni, but she married another man named Nathan Wallace, who was only a surgeon at the time. Vengeful, once Marni caught a severe genetic disease, Rotti secretly replaced her cure with a powerful poison which immediately killed her. Nathan, the one who administered the poison, was led by Rotti into thinking that it was he who killed his wife, who promised to keep it a secret if Nathan worked for him. Nathan's new position was as the main "Repo Man", a surgeon/bounty hunter who recovers GeneCo property (organs) from indebted customers.
Role in the movie
A worthy heir
Years later, one of Rotti's doctors announces that he has a severe disease, which will kill him in a few days. The news spread, and soon everyone wonders who will be the next in line for the ownership of GeneCo. Rotti's children Luigi, Pavi and Carmela "Amber Sweet" Largo begin fighting over who will inherit the enterprise, but Rotti has other plans. He plans to give the enterprise to Marni and Nathan's daughter Shilo, who believes she inherited a blood disease from her mother. At a fair, Shilo meets Rotti and is introduced to a singer called "Blind Mag" - who is under GeneCo contract - right before being led into a tent where two henchgirls watch over her. Shilo escapes thanks to a mysterious man named GraveRobber, who leads her back home.
After repossessing a spine, Nathan is given a new assignment by Rotti: repossess Blind Mag's eyes. Nathan refuses, but Largo tricks him into doing so by reminding him of his "guilt". After that, Rotti sends Mag to Shilo's house with his consent, and she explains that she is Shilo's Godmother and that Shilo must go to the Genetic Opera that GeneCo will be showing. Nathan returns home and kicks Mag out, much to Shilo's resistance. Back at GeneCo, Amber tells her father that her last surgery ruined her face, and he scolds her for not following his warning about "having too many surgeries". After Amber leaves, Rotti signs his will, which makes Shilo his sole benefactor. He also sends his henchmen to Nathan's house to capture him, as a final attempt at revenge. After they take Marni's body and Nathan notices that Shilo is missing, he and all characters sing about how everything will be solved "At the Opera Tonight".
Encounter and death
Everyone arrives at the Opera, where the performance begins. Amber goes first, but her act is interrupted after she trips and her face falls off. Blind Mag is the next one to sing, as she sings "Chromaggia" while suspended by wires. In an act of defiance, she gouges her own eyes out in front of the audience. Enraged, Rotti cuts the cords suspending Mag, dropping and impaling her on a fence. Rotti insists that Mag's death is part of the performance and convinces the audience to stay by saying that he will cure Shilo's illness. Meanwhile, Shilo attacks the Repo Man and unmasks him, revealing her father's face. Outraged, she claims that her dad is dead for her and storms off to the stage to face Rotti herself, causing Nathan to finally snap and cut his way to the stage. Rotti then tells Shilo on the stage that Nathan has been giving her a poisoned formula that maintained her disease. Nathan, strapped to a chair, claims that he was trying to protect her. Rotti then gives Shilo a gun and announces that all she needs to do to own GeneCo is kill her father. She refuses and aims at him, but when the lights go out, Rotti uses the last of his strength to shoot Nathan. Rotti then succumbs to his disease and dies on-stage.
Personality
Rotti is a supremely intelligent, arrogant, ruthless man who only cares about his own legacy and his business. He makes it clear to everyone that betraying or refusing to pay him are not valid options, as he can terminate anyone who defies him by ordering his Repo Men to kill anyone who opposes him and take out their organs, which are GeneCo property. Owning an enterprise which supplies organs, Rotti has a profound need for power and control, dominating people's lives which he can take away by simply denying the surgeries or sending his henchman to collect the organs.
Rotti is a charismatic individual who presents a charming, witty and benevolent personality to the cameras but is really a bitter, twisted and proud man who has nothing but contempt for the "money-grabbing beggars" around him. Nevertheless, he possesses a strong work ethic and has quite conservative views. He is disgusted by laziness and apathy and finds his children's decadence repulsive. Rotti seems to respect other individualistic and ambitious people such as himself and shows a respect and affection for Shilo, viewing her as a worthy heir. Because she is the daughter of the only woman Rotti ever loved, he sees her as a daughter which is one of the reasons he envies and resents Nathan Wallace.
Trivia
- Keeping with the opera style of the film, Rotti's singing voice is very reminiscent of the traditional operatic tone.