Original subtitles

In the previous episodes...

In this rotten period of peace...

We found the Fasci di Combattimento.

We are few, unorganized, without resources.

We feel there's a need for a levee to the red flood,

a levee that we think can only be black.

I fear nothing and no one.

I will stop all violence, wherever it may come from.

Giolitti is an old fox, for us the social equilibrium,

the order, would be our downfall.

We need chaos!

The violence you practice is embarrassing

Explain to the President, that if we were to be left out of the Parliament,

a force like our, without a legal outlet, has no alternatives.

Is this a threat?

Those who cannot make themself be heard in the Parliament,

have to make themself be hear outside of it.

"People move anxiously, in search of institutions, of ideas,

of men who represent staples in life."

Stand up straight, straight.

Keep your back straight, Honorable."

"In search of men, who are safe harbors.

The left-wing regimes, based on universal suffrage

and social legislation, tried their best."

Less impetuous, Honorable. More controlled.

Momentum is not everything.

Raise your hand, now, those who want to dismiss the government.

Bye, bye, Giolitti.

I told you that he let us in where we shouldn't have gone.

The government does not obtain the vote of confidence.

The process of restoration on the right

is already visible in concrete demonstrations.

The century of democracy dies in 1919-1920.

The orgy of indiscipline has ceased,

the enthusiasm for social and democratic myths has ended.

Life returns to the individual.

The world goes to the right, the century of democracy is over.

It is time for strong men.

Translated... After Giolitti, whoever comes next will fall too.

Exactly.

All the corpses that this

dying democracy will try to resuscitate will fall.

You will make them all fall.

Until your time comes, Benito.

And I will be ready.

The time has come for the politics of strong men, yes,

but who use their heads. Less muscles, more brains.

Less, less street brawls, more political strategy.

The time has come for thinkers, not warriors.

Of thoroughbred horses, not dogs of war.

Long live the King, long live the Fatherland and long live the Carabinieri.

We are here to take back our comrades who were unjustly arrested.

And free this place from the Bolshevik riff-raff.

- No? - No.

He says no. The usual game of roles.

They will step aside, as always.

Did I tell you or not that he was a monster!

He's a monster!

He is a champion, I felt he was a champion!

- Benito, sit down. - He told me, don't bet.

- But what does he know? - Sit down.

- Benito, sit down. - What?

Savages remain savages, eh.

- But I'm your savage. - In private.

The excitement of the moment.

Honorable! Honorable! Honorable!

They're calling you from Rome, urgently.

Come on, go. Quick.

You are already leaving? You said you were staying with us for a bit.

Rachele, it's politics. You never know when she'll call you.

But even a politician...

What, a politician? What do you know about politics?

- Oh, nothing. - So?

And a dress for the trip.

Why, that one is not good enough?

You think I can go to Rome dressed like this?

Oh, I don't know. If it was okay for the conference you were at...

Rachele, what do you know about etiquette?

Nothing. Nothing.

So a normal dress.

Something bad happened, Benito?

These are difficult times. Dangerous, too.

It's a complicated situation, very complicated.

Very complicated.

Are you crazy? Are you crazy? You're crazy, you.

You're crazy. Make them disappear. What if the police come back?

You told me these are dangerous times.

Politically dangerous, Rachele. Politically dangerous.

Make them disappear.

I am a strategist, not a bloodthirsty dog.

I am a strategist, not a bloodthirsty dog.

She's gone mad.

Here they are, the dogs of war.

Dino Grandi, leader of the Bologna fascists.

Of rural origin, but educated. An educated peasant.

The worst breed, you never fool them.

Roberto Farinacci, the quintessential fascist beater.

Rough, vulgar. He enjoys beating people more than fucking.

Cesare Forni, war hero, nine medals for valor.

One who for me attacked the City of Milan.

The soul of fascism, pure and hard.

The true star of the pack...

..Italo Balbo. A genius.

A mad genius.

The use of the black shirt as our uniform, was his idea.

Castor oil for our opponents to swallow, his idea.

Castor oil is a very valuable oil,

which is extracted from the seeds of the ricinus communis.

If administered in large doses, it becomes a powerful laxative.

You stick the funnel down the socialist's throat,

and pour in a generous amount of castor oil.

Let's say a liter.

Then you tie the socialist to the hood

of the car, and you drive him around...

..to shit himself in front of everyone!

When the government banned the use of clubs and rods,

and even walking sticks,

to prevent us from putting our opponents in place, he...

This is a North Sea cod.

Dried, it is called "stoccafisso", and becomes very hard.

Try it at home. It's very easy.

They are the members of the Central Committee of the

Fasci di Combattimento, which should be the brains of

the movement, and is composed of a pack of rabid dogs.

Leaders in their regions, but obtuse and despotic,

like the Ethiopian Ras.

I freed the dogs,

and if I got to where I am, I also owe it to them.

But now, I have to reproach them.

The trainer enters the scene.

Central Committee of Fascism Rome, July 22nd 1921

The century of democracy...

.. dies in 1919-1920.

The process of restoration on the right

is already visible in its concrete manifestations.

The orgy of indiscipline has ceased.

The enthusiasm for social and democratic myths... finished.

Life returns to the individual.

Life returns to the individual.

Sorry Benito, but exactly, what are you talking about?

You didn't make us come all the way here to hear this stuff?

That it's worse than castor oil.

Gentlemen. Gentlemen. Gentlemen, please, please.

Listen to the belly of the country. The farmers are pissed off.

The workers are pissed off. And everyone else?

The industrialists, the landowners, the bourgeois, are afraid.

All we have to do is tell everyone that they are right.

- They are right. - Exactly.

Wear down the system, and after exhausting it,

present ourselves as the only ones capable of fixing things.

We agree, let's approve it and go crack a few bones, eh?

No.

Not even a jaw?

No. No!

No, and no! Gentlemen, that's why I called you together.

The violence must end.

You're joking. He's joking!

Goddamn, Benito, my heart stopped.

For fuck's sake, Benito. These are some sick jokes.

How can one even think that?

Monsters, I created monsters.

I wasn't joking!

The squares of Italy must not turn into

slaughterhouses.

I love violence, you know it, it's part of me.

But now we are in parliament,

and that's from where we must overthrow the regime.

The nation came to us,

when our movement announced itself

as the end of a tyranny.

They would repudiate us if we took on the appearance of a new tyranny.

Our excesses risk unifying the enemy.

Pit against us the carabinieri, the army, who until now were with us.

The country wants peace.

And we, after having dulled fears and anger...

..we will give it to them.

He's not joking.

And I haven't fired the real bomb yet.

And I'm not finished yet.

I will offer a peacemaking pact to the socialists.

- No! - No!

- No, not the socialists! - Not the socialists!

- Order! - No.

As far as I'm concerned, and I'm not just speaking for myself,

the fight between fascism and socialism can only be resolved

with the annihilation of one of the two.

If we want to tell the whole truth, fascism, the real, authentic one,

was not born with Mussolini. The true father is D'Annunzio.

They bring up D'Annunzio just to piss me off,

but they know full well that he is a jaded,

half-blind, bloated old man.

Children need...

..fathers, not the men.

I feel light, freed from the burden of those rabid dogs.

Political action will gain in agility and authority.

I have a surprise for you.

I have decided to found a new magazine of political thought.

A laboratory of ideas for the new era.

I want all the most enlightened minds of this century

to write for it. Yours cannot be missing.

You're not joking around, then.

If the dogs follow me, good. If they go away, even better.

I will be the only reasonable and respectable fascist.

The only one capable of governing this country that

we have helped to exhaust. - It's the revolution...

..from within.

First minister, then head of government.

What's the matter, Cesarino?

The socialists agree to sign the peace.

Then a historical figure.

When I was a socialist, we arrived on time.

I can't explain it, we was said at 7:00 pm.

Hmm.

- If they don't show up, you'll pay the price. - What do I have to do with it?

Who negotiated?

Here are the socialists.

Forgive us, Mr. President, a transport strike.

Who knows who called it, maybe my grandmother.

The important thing is that we are all here now.

And it is with great emotion that I support the pact

that will put an end to this bloody season, for our homeland.

All of Italy is grateful to you for this gesture of pacification.

Who wants to be the first?

Voilà, even the honor of being the first.

They still love me.

Peace is made. Now, a nice handshake.

Please, photographers.

Benito, now you don't have to be so upset.

I'm not upset. It's the rudeness that bothers me.

Oh well.

I know you wanted to shake hands with your old comrades.

I don't care about handshakes.

When we are in power, we will abolish them.

- How will it be done? - How will it be done?

- Like this. - Beautiful.

Beautiful, huh? Let's remember it. Like the Romans.

The Romans didn't greet each other like this.

Hmm, and we don't tell anyone.

Benito, I'm saying this for you.

Because you have to figure out who you want to be.

Benito, listen to me carefully.

If someone wants to be a statesman,

then one must be happy with the political result, end of story.

- That's it. - Mh.

If instead someone wants to be a person who is loved by everyone,

and then let's face it, you made a fool of yourself.

What counts is the political fact. The success is undeniable. End of story.

He who has betrayed, will betray again.

Whoever betrayed, will betray again! Whoever betrayed, will betray again!

Whoever betrayed, will betray again! Whoever betrayed, will betray again!

Honorable, why don't you listen to me?

Fencing is waiting for the right moment.

Let's start again.

On guard.

- Honorable... - Honorable, my ass.

"Fascism respects tradition,

but it cannot stop in the face of declining hierarchies,

which, having exhausted their historical cycle,

are now incapable of exercising their leading function."

"Hierarchies in decline must yield command

the new ascending hierarchies, born from fascism."

For the first issue.

Nice.

What's wrong?

I have to go home.

Stay here tonight. My husband is out.

Don't ask me to choose, Margherita. I would probably pick wrong.

Never asked you to.

I wanted to become a deputy,

but I would have done anything

to be the head of the black shirts, instead of in parliament.

And I already know that if I were with the black shirts,

I would be ashamed of them and I would like to be in parliament.

Who am I?

You are war and peace,

strength and intelligence, evil and cure, life and death.

You are everything... and the opposite of everything.

That thing about evil, the cure, life and death, say it again.

Congress of Fasci di Combattimento. Rome, November 8th 1921

I will be the only reasonable and respectable fascist.

The point is, what makes a fascist,

a reasonable and respectable one?

I will try to explain it.

Look here.

A den of lions ready to tear me to pieces, among the ruins of the empire.

But now, the tamer enters the scene.

Let's count ourselves, and see which side the fascists are on, Benito.

Sure, as if there was any need.

Let's reason, shall we?

Now you want to reason.

Before shaking hands with the socialists, you had to reason.

What do you want?

Silence. Enough!

Silence!

You will allow me to have a feeling of satisfaction

in speaking before this imposing assembly.

I reap... I reap the fruit of years of hard battles.

I must admit that I have made mistakes.

And that I have a terrible temper!

But two Mussolinis are fighting inside me.

What the fuck are you talking about?

They are always fighting,

and sometimes they even risk killing each other.

So...

..I'm ready to take a step back.

I have to disappear, because you have to heal from my evil

and walk on your own!

Do you know what you look like, Benito?

What?

Those who leave their girlfriend a minute before she does.

Even geniuses can be assholes.

Coward!

Sold out! Sold out!

But I tell you, that if I made mistakes,

I did it for love.

- Hypocrisy! - Because I loved too much!

More than anything, I loved this creature of mine,

whose leadership I leave today.

Buffoon! Buffoon!

I will become...

I will become, and I hope to be able to keep being,

a mere fascist gregarious.

Take care...

Take care of this creature.

Who them? Hmm? Have you thought about it yet?

Who will come after me?

Look, I know you've been to D'Annunzio. I know.

Because you know too that you need a father.

Commander, have you thought about it?

The night is dark.

Diana hasn't appeared.

The sky is silent.

"The sky is silent". Mh, bullshit.

So who? You?

Or you?

Or Forni? Or Farinacci?

You will fight each other.

It was you, Benito, who proposed peace.

The end of violence, you wanted it.

What are we without violence?

Do we reason? Or not?

It's not easy!

And as a simple follower...

.. I leave it to this fine congress to decide what divided us.

Buffoon!

The pacification pact with the socialists.

Never with the socialists!

Oh well!

I...

I don't care about the socialists!

The reasons for fascism's existence are different!

We must become...

.. a real party!

- I don't care about the party. - Italo, make him explain.

Come on, let's hear it, let's hear it.

A party...

A party...

A party so firmly organized and disciplined

that it can transform itself into an army!

An army...

..capable of acting on the terrain of violence!

Yes!

No one says no to violence.

- But you said it. - We didn't understand each other.

We didn't understand each other!

I say no to gratuitous violence.

But I say yes to calculated violence.

A party with an army.

An army that makes everyone understand that fascists are serious!

Yes!

Yes!

A party with an army, something never seen before.

Because this is us: unheard of. Never seen!

We make history!

Yes!

Duce! Duce! Duce!

Duce! Duce! Duce!

- Hey! Hey! - Alala!

- Hey! Hey! - Alala!

- Hey! Hey! - Alalà!

- Hey! Hey! Hey! - Alalà!

Hey! Hey! Hey! Alalà. Hey! Hey! Hey! Alalà.

Hey! Hey! Hey! Alalà.

We've reasoned.

I haven't changed my mind.

Italy needs peace, it deserves it.

And we'll give it to it, with war.

This is what makes a fascist, a reasonable and respectable one.

Honorable colleagues, please.

"So that threats, violence, reprisals, punishments,

revenges, passions and personal violence of any kind,

should immediately cease."

- Colleagues, please! - Let him speak.

These are not my words. These are not my words.

These are the words of the Honorable Mussolini.

The pacification pact.

The pacification pact, promises, false promises.

It lasts so little, his word.

Giacomo Matteotti, the fur-coated socialist. Very rich family.

His father was a landowner,

they say he lent money at high interest to his farmers.

And what does he do?

He sides with the farmers, with the poor people.

Go work the land, instead of busting my balls.

Because the facts, the facts are very different.

The facts are that in the middle of the night,

when good people are sleeping in their homes,

when good people are sleeping in their homes,

the fascist trucks arrive...

..in the villages, in the countryside,

in hamlets inhabited by a few hundred peopel.

They are 20, 30, sometimes even 50,

armed with rifles and revolvers.

They call a socialist, a father,

a man who can barely feed his children with his work.

They call him and tell him to come down.

If you don't come out we'll burn your house, your family and your children.

And the chickens too!

And the chickens too! Come out.

Come here, you dirty bitch, come here!

So he is forced to come down.

And at that point, at that point,

the fascists inflict the most unspeakable tortures

on him in front of his family!

In front of his family!

Fire!

No!

No, dad, run away!

No!

Are you comfortable, comrade Florio?

Shame!

Shame. Shame on you.

This is no longer a political struggle, this is barbarism.

And it is equally scandalous that after having committed

their horrendous crimes, the fascist squads openly claim responsability

for the massacres in their war bulletins!

- Bravo! - Matteotti buffoon!

Ladies and gentlemen, please, calm down!

Ladies and gentlemen, wake up.

In Italy, power is in the hands of terrorist associations,

criminal organizations, professional assassins!

The honorable with the blood-red flower spoke.

The climate has changed, Matteotti. Now the lead is speaking!

Come here. Why are you speaking?

Honourable Member!

- Arrest him! - I'll throw the lead at you, I'll do it!

We demand to be defended, we demand it!

President, do something to bring order to the chamber.

Right! Right!

Now the magician enters the scene.

The Honourable Matteotti is right. The Honourable Matteotti is right!

He is right.

We must restore order!

Please, let him speak.

But we are governed by incompetents!

Right!

The responsibility lies with this flaccid Prime Minister!

Is this government capable of stopping the violence?

Is it capable of stopping the violence?

There is only one thing a government worthy of its name must do.

Arrest you all! Arrest you all!

Resign!

Resign!

Resign! Resign! Resign!

Resign! Resign! Resign!

Time for the next candidate.

And who else but myself?

Resign! Resign! Resign!

Your Majesty.

- Mussolini, this is a serious moment. - I agree.

The nation needs a government.

Of a government that lasts and is able to restore order.

We are one step away from collapse.

The socialists, Your Majesty. The socialists want nothing more.

The end of the State, of the Kingdom. I myself have heard them shout:

"With the guts of the last Pope we will hang the last King".

They tell me that no one shouted as loudly as you, just a few years ago.

Don't make me change my mind.

Youthful fury, Your Majesty, it is the fury of youth.

- Today I recognize in you... - Let's not waste time.

My daughter caught a quail today.

A quail?

A small one, though. Now I have to catch a bigger one.

Are you willing to commit yourself?

If you ask me, Your Majesty...

All right.

Then I intend to entrust the task of forming the government...

It is an honor, Your Majesty.

..to the Honorable Luigi Facta.

What do you mean, Facta?

Well, he's the only one who said yes to me.

- Honorable Mussolini. - Honorable Facta.

A King who thinks he can save his country with this little man

really deserves to be hanged with the Pope's guts.

Do you know that I'll be celebrating my 30th birthday in parliament this year?

Best wishes.

Thank you. I will be hosting a reception, of course you are invited.

Hmm.

As for the government, I was thinking of

giving you fascists a couple of undersecretaries.

Are they okay?

Hmm. Goodbye.

Goodbye.

"The greatest humiliation of my life."

They will pay for it.

But now enters the scene...

..the transformist.

Comrades.

Things are going well. Why an I saying "well"? Very well.

The King and Facta have crawled at my feet.

They know very well that without us...

..the are not going anywhere.

The game begins now.

We will wear them out in a relentless negotiation,

- until we have obtained what we want. - That is, everything.

That is, a ministry for me.

That's the goal. But we'll go step by step.

I say, we sit in government, and from there,

making them believe that we are reasonable people...

..like a poison...

Excuse me, Benito, can we know too?

They have...

What did he tell you?

One of us...

What? We can't understand a damn thing.

A socialist shot and killed comrade Florio.

- Death to the socialists! - Calm down, calm down.

We will honor him, but we will not give the socialists the gift

of us falling on the wrong side. No excesses.

The reading of a message from Benito Mussolini:

"There are names that have symbolic value,

battle names and rallying signals."

"They, clawed by death, burst forth into immortality."

Where is comrade Federico Guglielmo Florio?

Where is comrade Federico Guglielmo Florio?

Here!

Where is comrade Federico Guglielmo Florio?

Here!

Here!

Here!

He asked for trucks.

To do what?

Where is comrade Federico Guglielmo Florio?

Here!

Where is comrade Federico Guglielmo Florio?

Present!

Where is comrade Federico Guglielmo Florio?

Present!

"Indignation".

"Horror".

"The strongest condemnation".

"Unjustifiable violence".

"Unheard of ferocity".

"A horde of thugs, an entire city in the grip of gangs of murderers".

Enough.

They're all shooting at us. Socialists, liberals, unions.

- Enough, Cesarino! - Where are you going?

Home.

They'll probably arrest us all.

They'll form a government without us, against us.

We've managed the miracle of uniting the most quarrelsome country in the world!

We'll be remembered for this.

Rachele.

- Rachele, wake up. - What time is it? - Listen to me.

The weapons, the bombs, did you make them disappear?

Yes, I threw them in a ditch far away.

Good. My column.

I'm tired, Rachele.

And this?

I only kept one.

You never know.