Vincere

France 2009, 124 mins
Director: Marco Bellocchio
Starring: Filippo Timi, Giovanna Mezzogiorno

Synopsis

This unusual and offbeat historical drama rests on a little-known fact.

Though seldom discussed in history books (and reportedly undisclosed for half a century), Benito Mussolini had an illegitimate son by a woman named Ida Dalser - a son Mussolini acknowledged and then promptly denied for the rest of his life.

The tale begins in early 20th-century Milan before Mussolini's rise to power, where young Ida, besotted with the man, sells all her possessions and her business to fund the political newspaper he is attempting to launch.

Although the couple develop a relationship that promises marriage, Mussolini's lust for power would see him switch political, religious and romantic allegiances overnight.

Director Bellocchio treats the historical material with the passion, theatricality, lyricism and tragedy of a classic Italian opera.