In September 1919, Italian poet Gabriele D'Annunzio led a force of irregulars in an invasion of the town of Fiume, in what is today Croatia. Was he an egotist with dreams of heading his own state? A utopian with a strong nationalist bent? Or a fascist who cared little for the locals and helped pave the way for Mussolini’s rule?
In Fiume o Morte! (“Fiume or Death!”), Croatian filmmaker Igor Bezinović tells the story of D’Annunzio’s escapade in the most entertaining way possible, using brashly anachronistic re-enactments featuring residents of modern-day Rijeka — the city which includes what used to be Fiume.
Seven different bald men play D’Annunzio, with Bezinović announcing each cast change. Where some filmmakers strive for visual authenticity, Bezinović revels in anachronism and buffonery. D’Annunzio drives to Fiume in a gleaming modern car, a rock band serenading him from the side of the road. Bezinović regularly announces the true identities of participants (including the whippet playing D’Annunzio’s dog) and tells us what’s about to happen next. A passerby on the street berates a young man playing one of D’Annunzio’s soldiers and tells him his shoes are all wrong.
Meticulously researched, Fiume o Morte! brilliantly blends archival footage and photography with a rotating cast of informal re-enactors, drawing the past into the present. It also captures the essential puffery and absurdity of the fascist project at a time when authoritarianism is on the rise around the world. (Igor Bezinović, Croatia, Italy, Serbia, 2025, 113 min.) In Croatian and Italian with English subtitles
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