In the words of Sam Cooke, I don’t know much about history. Like many film fans, my knowledge of the world is a tapestry of the embellished truths I’ve picked up from the movies. The life and politics of Benito Mussolini is therefore something of a void for me; he is a man who has been generally ignored on the silver screen.
The events of Vincere (translation: Win) take place in the shadow of Mussolini’s rise from political activist to fascist dictator but despite the liberal use of original newsreel footage, the film is far from a dry political memoir. Instead, we follow the life of Ida Dalser, the mistress of the young Mussolini and bearer of his first born son. The resulting film is more Italian opera than historical document and is all the better for it!
The term “operatic” is something that gets bandied around a lot when talking about Italian cinema but in the case of Vincere, this association goes much deeper than the dramatics of the plot and performances. Carlo Crivelli’s orchestral score is much more than an afterthought; its swirling strings frequently take equal place alongside the dialogue, echoing the emotion and whipping the scenes between Ida and Mussolini into a frenzy.
Negotiating this precipice excellently are Giovanna Mezzogiorno as Ida and Filippo Timi as the young Mussolini. Both actors exude a powerful but threatening sensuality that will lead Mussolini to lead a country but will bring insanity and ruin to Ida. Physically, Timi may be a world away from the bald, bullish dictator we are familiar with but he has a charisma that makes him utterly believable. Mezzogiorno meanwhile puts in a skilled performance of almost unsettling emotional intensity that calls to mind the great Anna Magnani.
The film also looks wonderful. The use of newsreel footage gives a great sense of time and place while director Marco Bellocchio and cinematographer Daniele Cipri create an interestingly claustrophobic world where the streets are wreathed in smoke and the interiors are painted in muddy tones of brown and grey. All in all, Vincere may not be light on politics but it is a feast for the eyes and the ears.