A TV dramatisation of Mussolini’s life inflames Italy

In 1937, when Benito Mussolini, then Italy’s fascist leader, opened Cinecittà, a sprawling film complex in Rome, his government adopted a variant of a slogan first ascribed to Lenin: “Cinematography is the most powerful weapon.” On January 10th that weapon was turned with relish against any who might be tempted to follow in the dictator’s footsteps. Sky Italia, a satellite-TV platform, began televising “M—Il Figlio del Secolo” (”M—Son of the Century”), an eight-part dramatisation of Mussolini’s rise to power. The work of a British director, Joe Wright, it is based on a bestselling novel by Antonio Scurati. The series has dazzled critics. Angela Calvini wrote in Avvenire, a Catholic daily, that “its incisive, unsettling cinematographic style leaves [one] truly speechless.”