Directed by Marco Bellochio, Vincere (15) offers a fresh re-telling of the rise to power of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, with a stunningly emotional perfomance from Giovanna Mezzogiorno as Mussolini’s spurned wife.
There is a secret in the life of Mussolini: a wife and a son, who was born, acknowledged and then denied. Ida Dalser. It is a dark page in history, one ignored in the official biography of the Duce. When Ida Dalser meets Mussolini in Milan, he is the editor of Avanti and an ardent Socialist who intends to guide the masses towards an anti-clerical, anti-monarchical, socially emancipated future. Ida truly believes in him and his ideas: Mussolini is her hero. In order to finance Popolo d’Italia, a newspaper he has founded and the nucleus of the forthcoming Fascist Party, Ida sells everything she has: her apartment, her beauty salon, her furniture and jewelry. When the First World War erupts, Benito Mussolini enrolls in the Army and disappears and piece by piece Ida’s world starts to unravel.
Vincere (15) Theatr Mwldan Film Society’s film of choice on Sunday 17th October. For further information see www.mwldan.co.uk or call the Box Office on 01239 621200.
