When Benito Mussolini proclaimed that "Cinema is the strongest                  weapon," he was telling only half the story. In reality, very few feature films                  during the Fascist period can be labeled as propaganda. Re-viewing Fascism considers                  the many films that failed as "weapons" in creating cultural consensus and                  instead came to reflect the complexities and contradictions of Fascist culture. The                  volume also examines the connection between cinema of the Fascist period and                  neorealism -- ties that many scholars previously had denied in an attempt to view                  Fascism as an unfortunate deviation in Italian history. The postwar directors                  Luchino Visconti, Roberto Rossellini, and Vittorio de Sica all had important roots                  in the Fascist era, as did the Venice Film Festival. While government censorship                  loomed over Italian filmmaking, it did not prevent frank depictions of sexuality and                  representations of men and women that challenged official gender policies.                  Re-viewing Fascism brings together scholars from different cultural and disciplinary                  backgrounds as it offers an engaging and innovative look into Italian cinema,                  Fascist culture, and society.

Re-viewing Fascism: Italian Cinema, 1922-1943 PDF

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