Customer Reviews

Vincere [Import]

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4 star:		(1)
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2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Some amazing, poetic imagery, a rich, almost operatic score, and a
hyper-emotional yet always grounded lead performance by Giovanna
Mezzogiomo make this film work.

The story of Mussolini's cruelly rejected and forgotten wife and son
(they were a problem politically, since it turned out he was already
married) is certainly interesting, and a glimpse at the toll of
dictatorship on a much more human scale. It was also gripping to see
Mussolini portrayed as more complex and dangerously charismatic than
the buffoonish cartoon he has become in the public's mind.

That said, for me the film felt long at 125 minutes. The repetition
with which Ida Dalser is locked away in various mental institutions and
studiously ignored is at first powerful, but ultimately wearying.

Perhaps I was over prepared, as so many critics declared this
Bellocchio's best film in years, perhaps ever. But then, I was always a
bit out of sync with the critical establishment re Bollocchio. I'm
also not obsessed with "Fists in Pocket" his first film, widely
regarded as a masterpiece. As with "Vincere" I liked it, but felt it
milked one tone too long. I'm more drawn to his more subtle and complex
work like "Good Morning, Night" and "Henry IV".

But I will re-watch this, and I'm happy to have discovered this
director's wonderful, unique, slightly surreal, yet still emotional
work, even if it took me too many years to do so.

Cinematically the movie looks great with very clever tricks used. Interspersing actual archival footage of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini is very cool as are the HUGE black newspaper-like page one headlines that appear on screen to emphasize action on screen.

The problem with this movie is we never really find out why Mussolini abandons his first wife and son. The whole movie revolves around this telling of the first woman Mussolini loved and how the temper of the turbulent times played into that.

I also thought the precept of getting the lead actor to play both a young Benito Mussolini as well as the grownup version of the young son he abandoned was beyond stupid as far as casting went. It just did not work at all. You see later scenes and wonder why Benito is back at college.

The other thing is you'd think with the DVD you'd get a bunch of extras especially as Mussolini is such a historical figure. Even a glimpse into how the director decided to use the archival footage and where he found it would have been nice. Sadly, there are zero extras on the DVD.