Based on the book of the same name by Antonio Scurati, Mussolini: Son of the Century is a historical drama that aims to tell Mussolini’s story while also drawing a comparison with our present. The idea is fascinating, but does it actually come to fruition?
★★
Mussolini: Son of the Century opens on the 23rd of March 1919 in Milan when Benito Mussolini (played by an excellent Luca Marinelli) officially founded the Fasci Italiani di Combatimmento, which we now know to be the predecessor of the National Fascist Party in Italy. The eight-episode series then proceeds to follow Mussolini and his newly founded far-right political party for the next five years, until June 1924, as he inevitably takes control of the country. These are not the most famous years of Mussolini’s political career and yet this unfortunate beginning cannot help but function as a warning of what is to come both in Italian politics then, and perhaps even now.
At the beginning of the first episode of Mussolini: Son of the Century, we see a montage of black and white images of the time Mussolini’s voiceover plays through them, assessing the history of which he was a protagonist and eventually his demise that the audience catches a glimpse of. “Look around you,” he says, “we are still here.” And the frightening part is that he is right. In October 2022, Italy elected a far-right leader as the prime minister. In November 2024, the United States soon followed suit. The rest of the world is not doing so much better when it comes to the recent rise of far-right nationalism in the so-called liberal democracies of our time.
The intentions behind Mussolini: Son of the Century are well thought through, making it an incredibly necessary product in today’s – rather bleak – political climate. However, that is all there seems to be to the show: good intentions. Unfortunately, its satire of Mussolini as a character, and all the ones who gladly followed him in establishing the Fascist movement, comes off more as a cheap parody rather than irony per se. This is not only repetitive in the long run, but also makes it feel like the series is constantly trying to downplay the actual historical character of Mussolini and the unfortunate but enormous influence he had on the events of his time and, to a certain extent, today’s politics as well. Often, both the humour and the references to today are also too spelled out for the audience, as if the show did not trust its own viewers to come to the conclusions it wants to suggest.
The issue with Mussolini: Son of the Century is that it is hard to define what it really is. Part of it seems educational, with all its overly expository moments that unnecessarily explain historical details a lot of people in the audience will likely already be familiar with and ultimately makes the show feel like it’s a high school history lesson. Part of it is clearly meant to be satire, but this is often too overplayed and compromises some of the factual elements that do not come across in this adaptation. Half theatrical monologue – with Mussolini himself breaking the fourth wall, something that might work better for other figures – and half biopic, the focus of the series remains exclusively on Mussolini and the political turmoil in Italy at the time. As such, it is also failing to show the audience any of the wider cultural and societal elements – some of which are merely hinted at – that also made up the country in the early 1920s.
The key problem with the show is that Mussolini: Son of the Century does not seem to have quite figured out who its audience should be. Is it people who are not familiar at all with such a key moment in Italian history? Probably not, as the series goes too much into the historical details that would remain obscure to any viewers who do not know the facts in advance, especially since the series stops just as Mussolini’s rule over Italy starts. Is it the viewers who already agree with the argument it is trying to present? If so, this is not only probably a mistake – any spectator who sits down to watch a show about Mussolini would realistically be aware of the man and history behind it – but it also causes the show to fall into the trap of exposition. Either way, it doesn’t work. While the attention to detail is admirable and allows the show to paint an accurate picture of Italy at the time, the show assumes that its audience is not familiar with the events depicted.
The series is also paced oddly. Aside from some tighter moments when the action is unfolding before the audience’s eyes, most of the show feels incredibly lengthy. It moves at a painstakingly slow pace considering that eight episodes only manage to cover about five years of history and not even the ones the viewers would mostly associate with Mussolini and the Fascist regime in Italy. Whilst there are some beautiful and particularly fascinating shots, some of the editing in Mussolini: Son of the Century feels out of place, with the constant use of black and white shots inserted for no other apparent reason than to call back to an earlier classic like Eisteinsten’s Strike which seems out of place in this genre and style.
The Verdict
Overall, Mussolini: Son of the Century is full of good ideas, but most of them do not actually translate that well on the screen. Despite some really impressive and inspiring sequences – the opening montage may very well be the most impactful moment of the entire series – the majority of the show is unimpressive and easily forgettable due to its tendency to over-expose historical elements and ridicule its own characters.
Words by Clotilde Chinnici
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