Mussolini: Son of the Century

Based on the eponymous novel, M. Son of the Century tells the history of a country that surrendered to dictatorship, and the story of a man who was able to rise from his ashes time and again – The Duce, Benito Mussolini. This eight-part series from Director Joe Wright covers the period from the founding of Fasci Italiani in 1919 through to Mussolini’s infamous speech in parliament following the murder of socialist Giacomo Matteotti in 1925.

Our take

How is a dictatorship born? Returning to television after 20 years, Joe Wright boldly adapts Antonio Scurati’s bestselling novel about the rise of fascism in 1920s Italy and Benito Mussolini’s gradual seizure of power. Far from being a mere factual account, the masterful director of Atonement and Pride & Prejudice subverts the aesthetic codes of the Duce’s propaganda and his fascination with rhetoric in this epic production, as if to better decode and warn against them. In the lead role, Luca Marinelli (The Eight Mountains, Martin Eden) undergoes a remarkable transformation, delivering a breathtaking performance, somewhere between Scorsese’s Goodfellas and Todd Phillips’ Joker.