Original subtitles

M: People move anxiously

M: People move anxiously M: People move anxiously

M: People move anxiously

in search of institutions, ideas,

men who represent firm points in life.

MAN: Keep the back straight!

MAN 2: Keep your back straight, sir!

M: Looking for men who are safe harbors.

Left-wing regimes based on universal suffrage

and social legislation gave them what they could.

- Less impulse, Sir. - (EXHALES SHARPLY)

More control. Impulse isn't everything.

Raise your hand now, those against government trust.

Bye, bye, Giolitti.

I told you he let us in where we weren't supposed to go.

MAN: Government doesn't get trust.

M: The restoration process on the right

is visible in concrete demonstrations.

(BOTH GRUNTING)

The century of democracy dies in 1919-1920.

The orgy of indiscipline is over.

Enthusiasm for social and democratic myths are over.

Life goes back to the individual.

The world shifts right.

The century of democracy is over.

Time for strong men.

Translated...

With Giolitti fallen,

- who will come after him? - Exactly.

The dead bodies

that this dying democracy tries to resurrect will fall.

You'll drop them all.

Until your time comes, Benito.

I'll be ready for you.

The time for politics has come.

Strong men, yes, but with heads.

Fewer muscles, more brains.

Fewer street fights, more politics.

The time has come for thinkers, not warriors.

The race horse, not the dogs of war.

(RACE BELL RINGS)

(CROWD CHEERING)

MAN: Long live the King, the country.

Long live the police.

We're here to take back the unjustly arrested comrades.

And free this place from Bolshevik thugs.

No?

No.

He says no.

The usual game of parties.

He'll step aside, as usual.

(MEN CLAMORING)

(RACE BELL RINGS)

Didn't I tell you he was a monster?

He was a monster.

- He was a champion. - Sit down.

- Sit down. - He said, don't bet...

- What do you know? - Sit!

- Benito, sit down. - What?

Savages stay savages.

But I'm your savage.

In private!

The excitement of time.

MAN: Honorable, honorable.

Honorable!

You are wanted from Rome.

Come on. Hurry.

Leaving? You said you'd stay with us.

Rachele, it's politics. Never know when it calls.

But even a politician.

A politician? What do you know about politics?

- Nothing. - So what?

And a suit for the trip.

Is that not okay?

- You think it's okay? - I don't know.

It was okay at your conference.

What do you know about etiquette?

RACHELE: Nothing, nothing.

So, a regular suit.

But did something bad happen, Benito?

These are difficult, dangerous times.

It's a complicated time.

Very complicated.

Very complicated.

- Are you out of your mind? - Why?

You're out of your mind. Get rid of them.

If the police returns...

You said these are dangerous times.

Politically dangerous, Rachele.

Politically dangerous, get rid of them.

I'm a strategist, not a mutt.

I'm a strategist, not a bloody dog.

She's mad!

(TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWS)

(INTENSE MUSIC PLAYING)

There they are, war dogs.

Dino Grandi, head of the fascists in Bologna.

Of peasant origin, but studied.

Educated farmer. The worst kind, you never fool them.

Roberto Farinacci,

the quintessence of the Fascist stick.

Rough, coarse. More than screwing, he enjoys beating.

Cesare Forni, war hero. Nine medals of valor.

One who attacked Milan for me.

The soul of pure and hard Fascism.

The real star of the pack.

Italo Balbo.

A genius.

- A mad genius. - (CAR DOOR CLOSES)

Using the black shirt as our uniform is his idea.

The castor oil to be swallowed by our opponents was his idea.

ITALO: Castor oil is a very valuable oil

extracted from seeds of ricinus communis.

When given in large doses, it becomes a potent laxative.

Sticking the funnel in the Socialist's throat

and pouring a generous amount of castor oil.

About a liter.

Then you tie the Socialist to the hood of the car

and carry him around.

Shit himself in front of everyone.

The government banned the use of clubs and bats,

even walking sticks

to keep us from setting up our opponents.

And him...

ITALO: This is a cod from the North Seas.

Dried, it takes the name of stockfish.

And it gets hard.

Try it at home, too. It's easy.

They're members of the Central Committee of Combat Fasces,

which should be the brains of the movement,

made up of a pack of rabid dogs,

leaders in their regions,

but dull and despotic like Ethiopian Ras.

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

I freed the dogs.

And if I got where they are, I owe them too.

But now...

I have to recall them.

Let's get the trainer on.

CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF FASCISM ROME 22 JULY 1921

The century of democracy dies in 1919-1920.

The restoration process on the right

is already visible in its concrete manifestations.

The orgy of indiscipline is over.

Enthusiasm for social and democratic myths are over.

Life goes back to you.

Life goes back to the individual.

(MAN CLEARS THROAT)

What exactly are you talking about?

You didn't bring us all the way here to hear this!

Worse than the castor.

(ALL LAUGHING)

Gentlemen! Gentlemen, please, please.

Listen to the country.

The farmers are pissed. The workers are pissed.

And everyone else,

the industrialists, the landowners, the bourgeois,

afraid.

All we have to do is tell everyone they're right.

- They're right. - M: Exactly.

Wear out the system.

And after we wipe it out,

introduce us as the only ones who can fix it.

We agree, shall we approve and crack some bones?

- (ALL GROAN) - No.

Not even a jaw?

(LAUGHING)

No!

No!

No!

Gentlemen!

That's why I summoned you.

The violence must end.

He's joking!

- He's joking! - Benito, my heart stopped.

Darn it, Benito. These are priest jokes.

How do you... ?

(DISTORTED CHATTER)

I've made monsters.

DINO: Without violence, Benito...

I wasn't kidding.

Italian squares can't turn into Sunday slaughterhouses!

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

But now we're in parliament.

And that's where we bring down the regime.

The nation came to us

when our movement was introduced as the sunset of tyranny.

It would reject us

if we were to look like a new tyranny.

Your excesses risk to unite the enemy.

And having against the police

and the army that until now have been on our side.

The country wants peace.

And we, after blowing fear and anger,

will give it to him.

He's not joking.

I haven't dropped the real bomb.

And I'm not done yet.

I'll offer the Socialists a peace deal!

- No! - No!

I don't!

No, not Socialists, not Socialists!

- We need order! - ITALO: No!

As far as I'm concerned,

I'm not just speaking for myself,

but the fight between Fascism and Socialism

can only be solved by destroying one.

To put it bluntly, Fascism, the real one, authentic,

wasn't born with Mussolini. The real father is D'Annunzio.

M: They take D'Annunzio out just to fuck with me.

But they know he's a dazed old man,

half-blind, bloated.

Children need fathers, not men,

and I feel light,

freed from the ballast of that rabid dog.

Political action will gain in agility and authority.

I have a surprise.

HIERARCHY

I decided to start a new magazine of political thought.

A lab of ideas for the new era.

I want all the brightest minds of this century to participate.

- Yours cannot miss. - So you're serious.

If the dogs follow me, fine. If they go, so much the better.

I'll be the only decent, respectful Fascist.

The only one who can rule a country we've helped burn out.

- It's a revolution from within. - From the inside.

Prime Minister, then Head of State.

What is it, Cesarino?

The Socialists agreed to sign the peace.

Then history.

When I was a Socialist, we were punctual.

I don't understand. We said at 7:00.

M: Mmm.

If they're ditching us, it's your fault.

- Why me? - M: Who negotiated?

The Socialists.

Forgive us, President, a transportation strike.

And who called the strike, my grandmother?

Good, we're all here now.

And it is with great emotion that I support the pact

to end this bloody season for our country.

All of Italy is grateful for this gesture of peace.

Who wants to be first?

Voila, also the honor of being first.

They still love me.

Peace is made. Now, a nice handshake.

Photographers, please.

ROSSI: Benito, don't feel bad.

M: I'm not. I'm annoyed by the rudeness.

ROSSI: Oh, well.

I know that you wanted to shake hands with your old pals.

M: I don't care about handshakes.

When we're in power, we'll abolish them.

- ROSSI: How? - How?

Like this.

- Nice. - Nice, huh?

Remember, like the Romans.

Romans didn't greet like this.

M: And we don't tell anyone.

Benito, I say it for you.

You have to know who you want to be.

Benito, listen to me.

If you want to be a statesman,

then you must be happy with the political outcome.

- Enough. - Hmm.

If you want to be a person who's loved by everyone...

So, let's face it, you made a mess.

It's political stuff. Success is undeniable.

Period.

HE WHO BETRAYED, WILL BETRAY

PROTESTORS: (CHANTING) He who betrayed will betray.

He who betrayed will betray.

He who betrayed will betray.

He who betrayed will betray.

(M GRUNTS)

Why don't you listen to me?

Fencing is awaiting for the right time.

Let's start again.

On guard.

Ow! (GRUNTS)

- Your Honor! - Fuck Your Honor!

MARGHERITA: "Fascism respects tradition,

but can't stop in the face

of declining hierarchies that,

having exhausted their historical cycle,

are now unable to exercise their leadership.

Hierarchies at sunset must yield command

to the new ascending hierarchies born of Fascism."

For the first issue...

Nice.

What is it?

I have to go home.

Stay here tonight, my husband's out.

Don't ask me to choose, Margherita.

I am probably wrong.

Never asked.

I wanted to be a deputy.

But I would've done anything to be head of the Blackshirts.

Instead of Parliament.

And I know if I was with the Blackshirts,

I'd be ashamed of them,

and I'd be in parliament.

Who am I?

You're war and peace.

Strength and intelligence.

Evil and cure, life and death. You're everything.

And the opposite of it.

(BABY CRYING)

(DOOR OPENS AND CLOSES)

(SNORING)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

The thing about evil and cure, life and death...

Tell me again.

III CONGRESS OF FIGHTING BANDS ROME 8 NOVEMBER 1921

(CROWD CLAMORING IN DISTANCE)

I'll be the only reasonable and decent Fascist.

The point is, what makes a Fascist, decent and respectable?

I'll try to explain.

MAN: Go, go, run, run, run!

Come here.

A den of lions ready to crush me in the ruins of the empire.

But now... the tamer comes on.

- (ENERGETIC MUSIC PLAYING) - (PROTESTORS SINGING)

(CROWD CLAMORING)

We count on it, and see which side the Fascists are on,

- Benito. - Yeah, like we need to.

Let's talk, shall we?

ITALO: Now you want to reason.

You had to reason before shaking hands with the reds.

MAN: Benito!

(CLAMORING CONTINUES)

- What do you want? - To graze!

(SHOUTING INDISTINCTLY)

What are you doing?

Quiet!

FASCIST: Quiet, please!

You will allow me to have a sense of satisfaction

in speaking before this grand assembly.

(CROWD WHISTLES AND JEERS)

I gather... reap the fruit of years of hard battle.

I must admit I've made some mistakes.

- MAN: Good. - And I have a bad temper, too.

But two Mussolini fight me.

MAN 2: What the fuck?

- They always fight... - MAN 3: Go away!

And sometimes they risk killing each other.

So what?

I'm ready to step back.

- MAN 4: You can't leave us! - MAN 5: What is it?

M: I want... I have to disappear,

because you must heal from my evil

and walk!

ITALO: You know what you look like?

What?

The ones who leave the girl a minute before she does.

Even geniuses can be fucking assholes.

Coward!

MAN: Sold, sold!

But I tell you, if I made mistakes,

- I made it out of love. - MAN 2: Hypocrisy!

I loved too much.

Most of all, I loved this creature of mine,

whom I lead today.

(ALL SHOUTING)

I stay.

I'm staying, and I hope to remain

a simple submissive to the party!

Take care.

Take care of this creature.

(CROWD BOOING)

Then who is it? Hmm?

You thought of it.

Who's coming after me?

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

Because you know you need a father.

ITALO: Commander...

Have you thought of it?

The night is dark, Diana hasn't appeared.

And the sky is silent.

"The sky is mute."

(SCOFFS)

That's crap.

So, you?

Or you?

Or Forni, or Farinacci? You'll kill each other.

You, Benito, proposed the peace.

You wanted the end of violence.

What are we without violence?

Let's reason, or not?

It's not easy. And as a simple submissive,

I refer to this congress the decision on what divided us.

(CROWD MURMURS ANGRILY)

Clown!

The peace pact with the Socialists!

MAN: Never with the Socialists!

(CROWD SHOUTING)

MAN 2: Let's smash their faces!

Oh, well, I...

I don't care about the Socialists!

(CROWD CHEERING)

Fascism's reasons for life are different!

MAN 3: Well done!

We have to become a real party!

I don't care the party.

Italo, explain it.

Come on, let's hear.

M: A party...

A party...

A party so firmly framed and disciplined

that it can turn into an army!

(CROWD CHEERING)

An army capable of acting on the grounds of violence!

ALL: Yes!

No one says no to violence.

- ITALO: But you said it. - You're missing the point.

We didn't understand each other.

I say no to gratuitous violence.

But I say yes to calculated violence.

(CROWD CHEERING)

A party with an army...

An army to let everyone know that Fascists really do!

ALL: Yes!

Yes!

A party with an army, never seen before.

Because that's us, unheard of.

Never seen.

- We make history here! - ALL: Yes!

CROWD: Duce! Duce! Duce!

Duce! Duce! Duce!

- Eja, eja! - Alala!

- Eja, eja! - Alala!

- Eja, eja! - Alala!

- Eja, eja! - Alala!

- Eja, eja! - Alala!

- Eja, eja! - Alala!

- Eja, eja! - Alala!

- Eja, eja! - Alala!

- Eja, eja! - Alala!

- Eja, eja! - Alala!

- Eja, eja! - Alala!

- Eja, eja! - Alala!

We have reasoned.

I haven't changed.

Italy needs peace, it deserves it.

And we'll give it.

With war.

That makes a Fascist,

a reasonable and respectable Fascist.

- Eja, eja! - Alala!

- MAN 1: "Work immediately..." - MAN 2: Congressmen...

- MAN 1: "Work immediately..." - MAN 2: Colleagues, please.

MAN 1: For threats, de facto, reprisals,

punishments, vendettas,

passions and personal violence of any kind

- have come to an end." - Congressmen!

- Colleagues, please. - MAN 3: Let him speak.

These are not my words.

These are the words of Mr. Mussolini.

- The peace agreement. - (POLITICIANS SHOUTING)

The peace agreement. Promises, false promises.

- MAN 4: Time to end! - It lasts...

- His word lasts so little. - MAN 2: Congressmen, please.

Giacomo Matteotti,

the Socialist with furs. Very wealthy family.

His father was a landowner. They say he practiced usury

to his farmers.

And what does he do? He sides with the peasants.

The poor people.

Go work the land instead of busting my balls.

Because the facts... the facts are different.

The facts are, in the middle of the night,

when good people are sleeping in their homes...

When the good people are sleeping in their homes

the Fascist trucks come.

In the villages, in the countryside,

in the districts of a few hundred people,

twenty, thirty, sometimes even fifty armed people

with guns and riots.

They call a partner, a father,

a man who can barely feed his children through work.

Call him

- and tell him to come down. - Anyone home?

If you don't go out, we'll burn your house, family, kids.

- And the chickens! - And the chickens too! Get out!

(WOMAN SCREAMING)

FASCIST: Come here, you bitch. Come here!

MATTEOTTI: Then he's forced to come down.

And then...

Then the Fascists inflict the most unspeakable torture on him

in front of his family.

In front of his family.

(GUNS COCKING)

ITALO: Fire!

No!

(ALL LAUGHING)

No, father. Run!

(WIFE SCREAMING)

(SOBS)

Are you comfortable, Comrade Florio?

(WIFE SCREAMING)

Shame! Shame!

Shame on you. This isn't a political fight.

This is barbarity.

And it's just as outrageous

that after committing their horrible crimes,

Fascist teams openly claim massacres

in their war bulletins!

- MAN: Well done! - FASCIST: Matteotti, buffoon!

- Congressmen, please. Calm! - Colleagues, wake up.

The power in Italy is in the hands of terrorist groups,

criminal organizations, professional assassins!

The Honorable spoke to the red flower blood!

The weather's changed, Matteotti.

Now talk about lead, come here!

Why talk?

- Honorable! - MAN 2: Arrest him!

I'll throw you lead, I'll throw it.

We pretend to be defended. We demand it!

MAN 3: President, do something to bring order in court.

(POLITICIANS CLAMORING)

That's right!

Now the magician comes in.

The honorable Matteotti is right.

- Mr. Matteotti is right! - He is!

- M: He's right. - Calm down, congressmen!

- Order must be restored. - MAN 4: Respect!

Please, make him talk.

But we're ruled by incompetents.

MAN 5: Right!

The responsibility lies with this flaccid council chairman.

Is this government able to stop violence?

Is it able to stop violence?

One thing a government worthy of the name must do.

Arrest you all!

Arrest you all!

- Resign! - POLITICIANS: Yes!

Resign!

POLITICIANS: Resign!

Resign!

Resign!

Resign!

Resign!

Next in line. And who but myself?

POLITICIANS: Resign!

Resign!

Resign!

Resign!

(FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING)

Majesty!

Mussolini, this is serious.

- I agree. - The nation needs a government.

A government that lasts and is able to restore order.

We're on the verge of collapse.

Socialists, Majesty.

Socialists want the end of state, end of kingdom.

I heard them cry out:

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

I hear no one screamed as much as you just a few years ago.

Don't change my mind.

Youthful rage, Majesty. It's the rage of youth.

(CHUCKLES)

- Today I know... - Let's not waste time.

My daughter took a quail today.

A quail?

Small, though.

Now, I have to get a bigger one.

Are you willing to commit?

- If you ask me, Your Majesty. - Okay.

So, I intend to assign the task

- of forming a government... - It's an honor, Majesty.

...to the honorable Luigi Facta.

Facta?

Well, he's the one who said yes.

(INHALES SHARPLY)

- Mr. Mussolini! - Mr. Facta.

A King who thinks to save his country with this scumbag

deserves to be hanged with the Pope's guts.

Did you know I'll celebrate my 30th year in Congress?

- Cheers! - Thanks.

I'll have a party. Of course, you're invited.

Hmm.

As for the government,

I'd give the Fascists a few undersecretaries.

Is that okay?

(CHUCKLES)

- Goodbye. - Goodbye.

M: The greatest humiliation of my life.

- They'll pay for it. - MAN: ...ten Socialists.

But now, comes on

the transformist.

Comrades, things are going well.

But what am I saying well? Very well!

The King and Facta crawled at my feet.

They know that without us...

- (LAUGHS) - ...they're not going anywhere.

The game starts now.

We'll smother them in a restless negotiation.

- Until we get what we want. - All of it.

A ministry for me, that's the goal, but we'll go by degrees.

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

make them think we're reasonable...

(ALL LAUGHING)

...like poison...

(INAUDIBLE)

(INTENSE MUSIC PLAYING)

Excuse me, Benito, can we also know?

They...

What?

One of us...

What? We don't understand shit.

A Red shot and killed Comrade Florio.

(ALL SHOUTING)

- Death to the Socialists! - M: Calm down.

Comrades, calm.

We will condemn with vigor. We will give honor,

but we will not give the Reds a gift of us being wronged.

No excesses, no excesses!

(INTENSE MUSIC CONTINUES)

ITALO: Reading a message from Benito Mussolini.

"There are names that are symbolic.

Battle names and rallying signs.

They, nailed by death,

burst into immortality."

Where is Comrade Federico Guglielmo Florio?

Where is Comrade Federico Guglielmo Florio?

ALL: Present!

ITALO: Where is Comrade Federico Guglielmo Florio?

ALL: Present!

- ITALO: Present! - ALL: Present!

He asked for trucks.

To do what?

Where is Comrade Federico Guglielmo Florio?

ALL: Present!

Where is Comrade Federico Guglielmo Florio?

Where is Comrade Federico Guglielmo Florio?

FASCISTS: Present!

ROSSI: "Outrage."

"Horror!"

"Firmest conviction."

"Unjustifiable violence."

"Unheard ferocity."

"A mass of thugs."

"A whole city preying on gangs of killers."

- Enough. - We're all being shot.

Socialists, liberals, unions.

- Enough, Cesarino. - Where?

At home, they'll probably arrest us all.

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

We've succeeded in uniting the world's

most contentious country!

We'll be remembered for it.

Rachele!

- Rachele, wake up! - What time is it?

Listen to me, the guns, the bombs, did you get rid of them?

Yes, I threw them in a far ditch.

Well done, my pillar.

I'm exhausted, Rachele.

And this?

RACHELE: I only kept one.

(GUN COCKS)

You never know.