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Playing the dictator: re-enactments of Mussolini in film and television

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 May 2016

Stephen Gundle
Stephen Gundle*
Affiliation:
University of Warwick, UK
*
∗Email: s.gundle@warwick.ac.uk
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Abstract

This article explores the portrayal of Mussolini in film and television drama. It considers the contexts in which films and mini-series were made from the 1970s and the problems faced in bringing the Duce to the screen, mostly in dramas that stressed the final phase of his rule. Despite efforts to ensure authenticity in the reconstruction of locations, events and people, there was a notable emphasis on the private and personal dimensions of the dictator's life, a sphere in which screenplays had to indulge in invention in keeping with the practices of all ‘biopics’. The resulting ‘screen Mussolini’ is more human and potentially more sympathetic than the Mussolini of historiography. In a situation in which the legacies of Fascism and anti-fascism are still debated, this media construction has been controversial. The article assesses, using textual analysis, the meanings of the different representational solutions deployed in the films and considers some of the issues involved in playing Mussolini.

Keywords

MussoliniFascismfictionbiopiccinematelevision
Type
Research Article
Information
Modern Italy , Volume 18 , Issue 2: Special Issue: The Cult of Mussolini in Twentieth-Century Italy Guest Editors: Christopher Duggan, Stephen Gundle and Giuliana Pieri , May 2013 , pp. 177 - 195
Copyright
Copyright © Association for the study of Modern Italy 

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