Michela Cescon Movies

This unusual and offbeat historical drama rests on a little-known conceit. Though seldom discussed in history books (and reportedly undisclosed for half a century), fascist dictator Benito Mussolini conceived an illegitimate son by a woman named Ida Dalser -- a son Mussolini allowed to be born, acknowledged, and then promptly denied for the duration of his life. The tale begins in early 20th century Milan, with Benito (Fabrizio Costella) working as the socialist editor of a controversial newspaper called Avanti. His dream in life involves triumphantly leading the Italian masses away from monarchy and toward a "socially emancipated future." He met the young and wealthy Ida (Giovanna Mezzogiorno) once before, in Trento -- where they enjoyed a brief exchange; they re-encounter one another during Mussolini's period at Avanti and it becomes clear that Ida has fallen deeply in love with Benito; she believes wholeheartedly in his ideals and his future as the leader of Italy -- to such an extent that she sells everything she has (her apartment, furniture, jewelry, and the beauty salon she owns) to fuel the development of his newspaper, Popolo d'Italia. While the two become romantically entangled, with Ida positively magnetized by Benito's charisma and Benito hooked on a lust for power, Benito quickly switches spiritual and political allegiances overnight, changing from an atheistic socialist to a deeply Catholic fascist -- Catholic, because an allegiance with the Vatican will enable him to wrest and retain control over Italy's government. Benito and Ida marry and parent a son together, Benito Albino Mussolini (circa 1915), but the marriage certificate soon conveniently disappears and Ida learns, to her horror, that Benito has married someone else. She unwisely begins to protest the situation -- so loudly and persistently that she's first forced into house arrest and then shoved permanently into an insane asylum -- raising key questions about the fate and future of her young son. On a stylistic level, director Marco Bellocchio films this historical material with the passion, theatricality, lyricism, and tragedy of a classicist Italian opera. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

An embittered penitentiary social worker receives an unwelcome blast from the past when his the case file of his father, a convicted murderer who has been emotionally broken by prison life, lands on his desk in director Alessandro Angelini's tense family drama. As a child, Fabio (Giorgio Pasotti) was abandoned by his father when the man was found guilty of murder and locked away on an extended sentence. Now a passionate social worker whose job it is to monitor prisoners and recommend them for day leaves of probation when he sees fit, Fabio nevertheless remains extremely hardened by his fatherless youth. Soon after Fabio callously rejects an offer for a better paying job by the well-off father of his girlfriend Emily (Katy Saunders), he notices a familiar face in his latest batch of assignments. Despite the fact that it has been two decades since Fabio has seen his father Sparti (Giorgio Colangeli), he instantly recognizes the photograph in the file as his long-lost dad and soon commences to torment the man - who remains clueless that Fabio is, in fact, his son - with a vicious torrent of verbal and psychological abuse. Later, when the pair ventures into the suburbs on a day leave, the details of the long ago murder gradually begins to bubble to the surface as Fabio takes his father to visit their family, who still harbor deep-seeded feelings of resentment and anger towards the now-remorseful convict. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide