The March on Romea documentary on the rise to power of the fascists in Italy in 1922 presented at the Venice Film Festival, takes on a very particular resonance as a far-right party is favored in the legislative elections organized in the peninsula at the end of September.
In this documentary shown out of competition at the festival, which opened on Wednesday, Northern Irish director Mark Cousins focuses on how fascism distorts the truth, manipulates public opinion and promotes its own narrative.
It dissects the consummate skill with which Benito Mussolini, in power from 1922 to 1943, used his propaganda films to create the myth of his blackshirts’ famous entry into the Italian capital, known in history books as ” the March on Rome”, followed by the accession to power of the dictator.
Mark Cousins shows how skillful camerawork and editing can help manipulate reality, showing images of contemporary populist leaders, emphasizing that Mussolini was only a forerunner in the use of images to mobilize the masses through a message promoting patriotism, strength and heroism, with the difference that today it is social networks that have taken the place of films.
“When a cycle of fascism begins again, it does not begin again in exactly the same way, but in a new context,” he explained after the screening. “Fascism adapts in a quasi-Darwinian way to stick to its new environment”.
The film opens with footage of former US President Donald Trump defending his reliance, in a tweet, on a quote from Musssolini.
We also see Giorgia Meloni, whose far-right Fratelli d’Italia party is leading the voting intentions for the September 25 election, the leader of the French National Rally Marine Le Pen, the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro or his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
“New actors are playing roles” in line with the fascist heritage, comments the voice of Mark Cousins.
” A fire “
Meloni, who presents herself as a Christian mother, denies being a fascist, but the director recalls how in June she spoke out in favor of Spain’s far-right Vox party, denouncing “the LGBT lobby” and “Islamist violence” while highlighting “the universality of the Cross”, a symbol of Christianity.
“It’s a language worthy of the Crusades,” comments the filmmaker. His statements are “very close to fascism and the theory of the great replacement”, according to which the white and Christian populations are gradually replaced by Muslims through immigration.
The documentary analyzes the film shot by shot See you (Ours) by Umberto Paradisi dating from 1923, which helped create the myth of the march on Rome by exaggerating the number of blackshirts taking part and by masking the absence of Mussolini, who in fact had not taken part.
“It’s a lie that has entered the repertoire”, comments the director’s voice. The film then shows footage of hordes of Trump supporters storming the Capitol in Washington on January 6, 2021 to denounce the “stolen” election victory from their mentor.
For Mark Cousins, disinformation is spreading even faster and more widely today because of the Internet.
“You couldn’t reach a million people in three days in the past, but now you can,” he told reporters, noting that “a raging fire is harder to put out than a blaze slowly burning.”
“We who believe in democracy and equality and minority rights […] we can put out the fire and we have a duty to do so. »