Les années rugissantes

Luigi Zampa gave us a critic and, at a same time, ironic description of what really was fascism in Italy. I think that this movie should be seen by the leaders of "Alleanza Nazionale" in order to discuss over their idea of the morality of politicians in the eve of fascism

The satire of Fascism that this movie offers isn't probably the

most corrumpsive, while it shows a bunch of greedy little people. Anyway, the story chooses to look at the ridiculous side of the dictatorship. The town authorities are depicted as small, foolish corrupted dabblers. They quickly flatter the anonymous broker, then they quickly turn him out of town when they discover his identity. The idea of the plot is that Fascism and all the fascist boasts are only (tragic) rethoric: the poor people remain poor, problems are farther than ever from solution, the local influent men are the same as before Mussolini's takeover. In a word: nothing ever changes, if not to worse. The key-scene is the arrival of the real inspector. He drops his incognito down immediately, because "incognito would be an insult to the brave comrades of the province", of course he's willing to use his influence to take part in the local corruption. A special mention for Salvo Randone, one of the best Italian theatre actors, who plays the role of the anti-fascist former director of the local hospital.

Nicolai Gogol satirised the corrupt officialdom of Imperial Russia in his masterful play 'The Government Inspector'. It is only fitting that the screenplay for this loose adaptation should be that of Ettore Scola for whom the inequalities and injustices of Italian society proved such a rich source of inspiration.

The setting here is 1920's Italy which is in thrall to Mussolini's Fascismo and gives director Luiga Zampa ample opportunity to have a a dig at corrupt politicians as he had done so well in his previous film 'Il Vigile'. In that film a morally vacuous mayor is played by Vittorio de Sica and here Gino Cervi adopts a similar role. His character is feathering his own nest as are all of his fellow council members and they are thrown into an understandable panic when news reaches them of an inspection of the town's affairs by a leading Fascist official from Rome. An inquisitive stranger named Omero, claiming to be an 'insurance salesman', appears on the scene. Might it be he.............?

Omero is played by Nino Manfredi who is suitably ambiguous and the film's broad humour is balanced by his love for the mayor's daughter Elvira. She is played by the luscious Michelle Mercier who would soon go on to play Angélique, a role that would prove more of a curse than a blessing!

They are some extremely funny scenes in this, notably the vaudeville routine with gorgeous girls in uniform and the occasional swastika that anticipates 'Springtime for Hitler.' The film also contains a marvellous gallery of buffoons, hypocrites and assorted hangers-on.

It would not be a Zampa film of course without its graver undertones which are here supplied by the down-trodden peasantry who are obliged to live in caves on the outskirts of town. One of them asks Omero to give Il Duce a letter. Omero forgets all about it until he reads the heart-rending contents on the train taking him back to Rome. He has lost the love of shallow Elvira but has gained an insight into the true nature of Fascism.

In the original play the leading character turns to the audience and says: "What are you laughing at? You are laughing at yourselves!"

Satire is a potent weapon and despite the efforts of humourless, self-righteous fanatics to suppress it, once we have lost the ability to laugh at ourselves and others, we are doomed.

In this masterpiece, freely inspired to "The Inspector General" by Gogol, Zampa gives us one of the best examples of Italian comedy in the period of "neorealismo". This comedy of errors reveals the widespread corruption behind the veneer of Patriotism and Fascism, that was largely the norm under Mussolini.

But it is not simply politics, because by looking at Fascism, Zampa makes us think about some invariables in human society: corruption, malpractice, petty men with petty interests. This general moral stance is one of the movie's strong points: as actor Manfredi says, in our society "Magna tu cche mmagno anch'io", i.e. "grab anything and I'll do the same".