There's no way that George C. Scott could beyond screen for nearly six hours and not gain some sympathy, even playing Mussolini. It's an impressive production but he seems to be too good to be true, and as the dictator fascist Italy, something he seemed to be proud of, he's given far too much heart for what amounts to a lengthy soap opera involved in his relationship with his family and his desire to run Italy the way he sees fit. He's basically the prime minister while the king of Italy is basically a puppet ruler, and for half of the film, Mussolini is avoiding any contact with the new chancellor of Germany, Hitler. But as Hitler prepares to march into Austria, Mussolini finds himself drawn in as well, and by 1943, he's completely under Hitler's thumb. A lot of the time, it's basically George C Scott in Mussolini costumes, but at times, he really does look like him, and his performance is often touching. But this is Mussolini we're talking about, not General Patton, and as a family man, he's devoted to his wife even with all his mistresses and illegitimate children on the way.
A tough performance by Lee Grant is a true highlight, and the scene with Grant and one of the mistresses is up there with Eva Duarte kicking out Juan Perone's mistress. This certainly isn't as campy as the 1981 TV movie about Evita with Faye Dunaway, but there's something disturbing about the often kindly light that Mussolini is portrayed in. Raul Julia, as the son-in-law who portrays him, is he other memorable performance. A young Robert Downey Jr. Portrays his son, given a rather sympathetic portrayal while research about him actually indicates that he was quite different than what is shown here.
Certainly you have to understand Mussolini the family man to understand Mussolini the leader, but there's too much time and a lot of questionable details about what is truth and what has been embellished. There really should have been more detail about the squalor of war that other movies have shown Italy going through, and it's as a result one of the cleanest wars I've seen on film. That results in a disappointing second half because Mussolini ends up being written as a misguided folk hero who was as big a victim of Hitler as the rest of the world, only shown as somewhat anti-Semitic when history shows otherwise. A very misguided three part TV miniseries that should have been a masterpiece but ends up disturbing especially in its claims to be "untold".
A tough performance by Lee Grant is a true highlight, and the scene with Grant and one of the mistresses is up there with Eva Duarte kicking out Juan Perone's mistress. This certainly isn't as campy as the 1981 TV movie about Evita with Faye Dunaway, but there's something disturbing about the often kindly light that Mussolini is portrayed in. Raul Julia, as the son-in-law who portrays him, is he other memorable performance. A young Robert Downey Jr. Portrays his son, given a rather sympathetic portrayal while research about him actually indicates that he was quite different than what is shown here.
Certainly you have to understand Mussolini the family man to understand Mussolini the leader, but there's too much time and a lot of questionable details about what is truth and what has been embellished. There really should have been more detail about the squalor of war that other movies have shown Italy going through, and it's as a result one of the cleanest wars I've seen on film. That results in a disappointing second half because Mussolini ends up being written as a misguided folk hero who was as big a victim of Hitler as the rest of the world, only shown as somewhat anti-Semitic when history shows otherwise. A very misguided three part TV miniseries that should have been a masterpiece but ends up disturbing especially in its claims to be "untold".