That is the real horror of Son of the Century . It isn't about jackboots; it is about weakness. It shows how democracy doesn't die in a bang, but in a slow, cowardly shrug. Sound familiar? Fair warning: this is not easy viewing. It is loud, aggressive, and relentless. There is no "good Italian" to save the day. The anti-fascists are there, but they are losing. You will watch 10 episodes of the bad guys winning.
Sky and Canal+’s new series, Mussolini: Son of the Century ( M. Il figlio del secolo ), directed by the legendary Joe Wright ( Atonement , Darkest Hour ), refuses to let us forget. Based on Antonio Scurati’s bestselling, prize-winning novels, this is not your grandfather’s history lesson. This is a panic attack set to punk rock. Forget the caricature of the bombastic, chin-jutting clown. Luca Marinelli (who gives the performance of the decade) presents Benito Mussolini as something far more unsettling: a hyper-intelligent, vindictive journalist. A political opportunist who understood, before anyone else, that the feeling of power was more important than the mechanics of governance. mussolini: son of the century
Watch it. Not to gawk at the past, but to recognize the rhetoric of the present. Because the "son of the century" has many grandchildren, and they are still shouting at the camera, demanding you choose a side. That is the real horror of Son of the Century
There is a danger in watching a show about a dictator. Not the danger of propaganda, but the danger of myth. We often look back at the 20th century’s tyrants through a haze of black-and-white newsreels—stiff, slow, and unreal. We tell ourselves they were monsters, but in doing so, we distance them. We forget the magnetism. We forget the crowd. Sound familiar