EXCELLENT CADAVERS [**] (Two stars)

EXCELLENT Cadavers” is an uninspired TV documentary about the long-running war between Italian authorities and the Mafia, based on a book of the same name by New York-based journalist Alexander Stille.

This book also inspired a so-so 1999 HBO movie of the same name starring Chazz Palminteri as Giovanni Falcone, who was murdered by the mob along with fellow prosecutor Paulo Borsellino.

Stille is interviewed at length by director Marco Turco, who also talks with photojournalist Letizia Battaglia about the slaughter of judges and prosecutors that began in the late 1980s as Italian authorities began trying to bring Sicilian gangsters to justice, culminating in a 1992 “maxi-trial.”

“Excellent Cadavers” uses archival footage to place the war in the context of the longtime alliance between the Mafia and crooked Italian politicians, but there’s little, if anything, that will be new for those interested in the subject.

Running time: 91 minutes. Not rated (violence). At Film Forum, Houston Street west of Sixth Avenue.