Il giovane Mussolini

From the U.S. title given on most copies of this Italian production, one sees "The Rise and Fall of Mussolini," intimating that this long series takes us well into World War II and the country's turning on the man they held in high esteem for a short while.

Well, surprise, folks--there's no "Fall" in the 308 minute history lesson, and the man we meet is a vital, young Socialist who earns the respect of his people by standing up for what he believes. Not knowing this before I watched it, I kept expecting to see Banderas somehow evolve into the stereotyped Mussolini most of us know from either experience or history books, but that doesn't happen--the film, which is a literate, well-produced and intelligent biopic, ends in 191--long, long before World War II.

Some critics complain about the English dubbing--solution: watch it in Italian and add the excellent English subtitles! If you're looking for war action, this ain't it--but if you want to see Banderas and a competent Italian cast devote themselves to some fascinating, little-known history and an immersion in political theory--this is a good choice!

This very good italian TV fiction has been showed just once in the italian network (RAI) in 1993 end no more forward. In 1993 Banderas was a good but not yet very famous actor, and so was the screenplayer Vincenzo Cerami ("La Vita è Bella", "Pinocchio"). The movie tells about the Benito Mussolini's life before the Fascism, when he was socialist and the director of the newspaper "Avanti!".

At the most obvious level, the average person might ask of this movie, "Why, oh why, would someone make a 5-hour movie about Benito Mussolini?" It does not even cover his entire life! In fact, it only covers about 12 years of his life, and all of it prior to the period for which he is historically significant to Americans. The movie covers Mussolini from age 19 to about age 31, ending about 1914, just before Italy's entry into WW I. The events of Mussolini's life depicted in the movie could be summarized as serial seduction of women, rabble-rousing and trouble-making, nothing in itself historically significant. Political wonks, history buffs and devout Socialists would find the movie interesting, but it is much too long and irrelevant for just about anyone else.

However, within the specialized audience for which this movie would hold appeal, it excels as a professionally-produced made-for-TV movie. For the American historian, it introduces some of the people who were significant in the era, and shows how they related to Mussolini. The movie also shows many bright, gifted, thoughtful people--even within his own party--who were routed by Mussolini's brute appeal to the public's emotions.

Antonio Banderas is believable to Americans in the role of seducer because of his sensuality, but the real Mussolini was plain-looking enough that if he was as promiscuous as portrayed in this movie, it could only be as a result of his society's (and his own) self-motivation for base desires. The real Mussolini looked like a thug and acted like a thug. He was a brutal man. How could such a man attract rational people to himself? The movie shows that he did it by his unwavering arrogance; people follow confident, assertive people, for better or worse.

The movie includes partial female nudity and Antonio Banderas' backside.

Mussolini was a bullying opportunist, a hooligan who would use shouting in an uninterupptible manner in is oratory discourse to overwhelm his debaters. He had little to no real understanding or belief in the socialism he professed to espouse. Rather he used the socialist party to build his own image and to further his own career. In this film this is perceived of him by both his wife, Rachele, and his sometime supporter, Angelika Balabanoff. However, neither had the gumption to stand by their convictions as Benito's significance to them had grown such that neither could ignore him. The film tries to conceal this point, but it does come out, knowing where Benito was headed after the film ends.

The English title is pretty misleading. The film ends in 1915, just before Italy enters World War I on the side of the Allies, as Mussolini intended. So there is nothing in the film about the "... Fall of Mussolini". The film deals only with "... The Rise ..." The Italian title is much more accurate, as it does deal pretty much with Mussolini's youth, 1901-1915. I watched the English audio version. Another reviewer stated the Italian version (English subtitled) was better because it was more passionate. That may well be, but both versions on the DVD are dubbed. That's not Antonio Banderas speaking Italian on the Italian version.

Perhaps for educational value, the film has some merit to get an idea what Mussolini's life was like 1901-1915. It seems chronologically accurate, though it may be debatable whether Mussolini resigned or was expelled and/or fired from his various positions. In the film he is portrayed as resigning from the socialist party, but per Wikipedia he was expelled. So the film may not be absolutely accurate, but one can get a feel for what Mussolini was like in the film as he bullied people and constantly espoused and provoked violence. I find it interesting that the film ends just before Mussolini is about to show his true colors as he enters the war himself (the war being opposed by the socialist party) and afterward promotes Fascism (diametrically opposed to the socialism he professed before the war).

I give the film a low rating based on its entertainment value. The film does have some educational value which is why I watched it. However, I find little entertainment value in the glorification of such a hypocritical opportunist as Benito Mussolini and for me film ratings are based on entertainment value.

In 1993 Gianluigi Calderone directed this biography of Benito Mussolini (script by Vincenzo Cerami and Mimmo Rafele) as a three-part television series, wisely electing to engage one Antonio Banderas, fresh from his triumph in the film 'Philadelphia' in the States, to tackle the legend of one of the treacherous leaders of Italy in the first half of the 20th century. The DVD is now available in a 2-disc format, which allows the viewer to watch Parts I, II, and III on separate evenings. It is a beautifully captured bit of history and Banderas proves his considerable acting chops in a role that spans the entire spectrum of emotional response.

The film opens when Mussolini, at age 19, was disenchanted with being a schoolteacher and instead focused on womanizing and the plight of the workers in Italy. A man of astounding power of verbal presentation and conviction, he managed to seduce not only nearly every woman who crossed his path but also the multifactioned working class, a mass of frustrated and abused workers who jumped from promise to cause to new hero with regularity in an attempt to change the sad situation of class struggle in Italy.

Mussolini (Banderas) manages to court the interest of Angelika Balabanoff (Susanne Lothar), a Russian Socialist with hard rules and concepts of her own but also a woman who could foresee Mussolini's growing importance as a leader of social reform. The story unwinds at a fine pace, pausing to reveal the tender side of the man with his marriage to his childhood sweetheart Rachele (Claudia Koll), his challenges to attack his education further through the influence of another lover, med student Eleanora (Anna Geislerová), as well as through his ruthless manner through his confrontations with Manzoni (Jan Novotny), Bissolati (Eduard Kolar), his rise to power by becoming the editor of Milan's influential Avanti! newspaper, and his leadership of the Italian Socialist Party. But power gets a strangle hold on him and he develops the cruel Fascismo Party, and with that turns all of his supporters against him in his revolution that started for the working class into a sellout to the landowners, from his initial stance of pacifism of revolution to his active engagement in the World Wars.

Banderas does a fine job of allowing us to see all sides of Mussolini: this is not a cardboard cutout but a man with multi-dimensional characteristics. The superb cast includes German, Spanish, Italian, and Czech Republic actors and therein lies a bit of a problem. While the acting is excellent, it appears that each of the actors is peaking in his own tongue, that the final version released on DVD is dubbed in Italian and/or English with English subtitles. But the dialogue is so fast-paced, filled with vibrantly important information that the viewer rarely gets to look at the mouths of the actors to see who is speaking what - so it doesn't distract from the brilliance of the film.

The cinematography and set design and costuming are all excellent as is the wondrous musical score by Nicola Piovani. It would help to be more informed about Italian political history to fully enjoy this spectacle, but the epic does provide a fine condensation of years of world politics and the rise of Socialism that allows us to understand that strange era far better. Watching BENITO requires an investment of time, but for this viewer the investment is well worth the effort and the subsequent pleasure. Highly Recommended.