Vincere Special 1: Fascism is Dead, Long Live Il Duce

Man or monster: the humanising of Mussolini

by William WardThursday, 13 May 2010

'Vincere': the future Duce (Filippo Tomi) seduces his mistress (Giovanna Mezzogiorno)

Applauded by the audiences at Cannes last year, where it was the only Italian film in the competition, and nominated for a Palme d’Or, awarded four prizes at the Chicago International Film Festival, and favourably received at home, Marco Bellocchio’s Vincere is now being released in the UK, increasingly a rare event for films of Italian origin.

Mussolini theorised thus: “The masses love a strong man, and the masses are female in nature”

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