Italian Film Festival NZ Palmerston - I'm Back

Mussolini reappears in Rome 72 years after his death, and finds the country still full of problems. Mistaken for an actor, he joins a young filmmaker and starts travelling through Italy attempting to return to power.

The director, Luca Miniero, along with co-writer Nicola Guaglianone, shows us an agreable side to the dictator (writing text messages for Andrea's girlfriend) and his more human side (remembering his beloved Claretta Petacci) before flipping that perspective on its head to reveal the "monster." The old regime’s strategy of manipulating our consciences, the director suggests, is the same as that of the new "videocracy." But what makes it an even more uncomfortable viewing experience, giving the audience the chills in this satirical comedy produced by Indiana with Vision Distribution, are the candid interviews, in which reality takes over." I didn’t create fascism, I took it from the unconscious of the Italian people," revealed Mussolini in his last interview, quoted in the film.