Benito (1993)

Benito is an Italian TV regarding the story of Benito Mussolini's early rise to power in the Socialist International and his relationship with Angelica Balabanoff. It was made in 1993 by RTVE of Spain, Rai Due of Italy, Microfilm, and the Kirch Company. It stars Antonio Banderas as Mussolini.

Synopsis

The movie starts off with Benito arriving in a small town in 1901 and getting a job as a school teacher and consequently getting fired for defiling the headmaster's daughter. This would be a common theme throughout the movie. After giving up on teaching, Benito works as a builder on the new University of Geneva campus building, and where a lover persuaded him to become a student. This is also where he organizes his first protest after the death of a worker he knew. For this, he is nearly exported but is saved by Angelica's intervention. After getting run out of then-Austro-Hungarian Trieste, he goes back to his hometown of Forlì, where he marries Rachele. Soon he is at the forefront of the Socialist movement when he becomes the editor-in-chief of Avanti!. It is at this point that Mussolini unites the "reds," the Socialists, with the "yellows," the Republicans in an anti-war movement. This marks the peak of his power: with the Italian left-wing politics under his control. However, Benito gradually loses his anti-war fervor and eventually splits from the Socialist party altogether, turning all his allies into enemies.

Cast

• Antonio Banderas as Benito Mussolini
• Toni Bertorelli as Primo
• Valentina Lainati as Giulia Ferrari
• Ivano Marescotti as Giacinto Serrati
• Franco Mescolini as Ferrari
• Anna Geislerová as Eleonora