This is an incredible achievement in contemporary European filmmaking, using the medium of television to make what is essentially an 8 hour long film about one of the continent's most infamous dictators. It is always great to see a television miniseries that is directed by a single director, making it completely cohesive and closer to the cinema, which is a great thing for a miniseries. This miniseries is very competently and stylistically directed by Pride & Prejudice director Joe Wright. The core performance, that of Luca Marinelli as Benito Mussolini, is completely transformative. There were moments where I fully believed I was watching Il Duce himself. This miniseries also makes a very bold stylistic choice that might baffle and even alienate some viewership, but I thought it was very poignant. Especially leading to the final spoken line at the very end of the last episode, it leads to an incredibly chilling effect that accentuates our position of spectatorship while also commenting on the spectatorship of people standing idly by while fascism is on the rise, both past and present.
This is an incredible achievement in contemporary European filmmaking, using the medium of television to make what is essentially an 8 hour long film about one of the continent's most infamous dictators. It is always great to see a television miniseries that is directed by a single director, making it completely cohesive and closer to the cinema, which is a great thing for a miniseries. This miniseries is very competently and stylistically directed by Pride & Prejudice director Joe Wright. The core performance, that of Luca Marinelli as Benito Mussolini, is completely transformative. There were moments where I fully believed I was watching Il Duce himself. This miniseries also makes a very bold stylistic choice that might baffle and even alienate some viewership, but I thought it was very poignant. Especially leading to the final spoken line at the very end of the last episode, it leads to an incredibly chilling effect that accentuates our position of spectatorship while also commenting on the spectatorship of people standing idly by while fascism is on the rise, both past and present.