Excellent

For perspective, I watched this mini-series on Youtube.

Links here.

Part 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewy4nOcQWNg
Part 2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yYvVfx-WdI


Part 1 - This is the first time I've seen anything historical on Benito Mussolini. I knew almost nothing about him, and what really interested me was George C. Scott playing him. Scott previously played Patton and was great in it. Here as Mussolini he does a great job, convincing as Mussolini. Nice to see familiar faces in Robert Downey, Mary Mastronotonio, Gabriel Byrne and Rual Julia.

All doing really well in their performances. Il Duce certainly had some skeletons in his closet, and being a man of power, that tends to happen. Very interesting to learn about his humble family life and rising to such a great position of power. Really like that he references the Roman Empire so much and tries to follow in it's example. Part one is really well filmed, and it is well put together. This being a historical drama, it's always nice to see archive footage.

Part 2 - So much more unfolds here, where Il Duce loses his power, and then gains his power again, with a huge twist. For someone, who does not know the history, I won't spoil it. Benito and Adolf's interactions were portrayed well on screen. Rachelle's struggle with Benito's power hungry attitude, the dire situation in Italy, was a good watch, as well as her dealing with the Claretta situation. Lee Grant really shined in part 2. Also seeing the struggle between Edda and Galeazzo in their terrible situation and grappling with Benito, you felt sorry for the couple.

Again, the performances were really good. More archive footage is always welcome, and part 2 as part 1 was really well put together. There's some footage missing from the mini-series as this edit was shortened, however it covered enough.

No real complaints.

If you want to know more about Italy and Mussolini, then this is a great watch.