The Death of a Madman & the Rise of a Hero (film)

The Death of a Madman & the Rise of a Hero
Original title	Morte di un Pazzo, Ascesa di un Eroe
Directed by	Ludovico Marino
Screenplay by	Ludovico Marino
Starring	Vitale Giordano Filippo Gallo Silvia Baresi
Music by	Vinicio Padovesi assorted composers
Production company	Produttori Cinematografici Nazionali
Release date	November 26, 2023
Running time	113 minutes
Country	Mansilla
Language	Italian
Budget	₤9.3 million
Box office	₤13.9 million

The Death of a Madman & the Rise of a Hero (Italian: Morte di un Pazzo, Ascesa di un Eroe) is a Mansillan Italian-language propaganda film released on November 26, 2023 to commemorate what would be the 98th birthday of Mario di Brambilla. The film, a period-piece set in the late 1970s, depicts the tumultuous final years of the D'Amaro regime in Mansilla and the rise of Mario di Brambilla, the father-in-law of current Prime Minister, Giancarlo Ricci, who led a coup against D'Amaro in 1978. The film opened domestically to near-universal acclaim, despite its small budget of around ₤9 million pounds.

Plot

Shot in black and white, the film begins in the mid 1970s, depicting Lorenzo D'Amaro (Gallo) as an unsightly, feeble man prone to violent outbursts. In his office, he is strongly implied to “engage” with women of ill repute, and is later depicted gorging himself on imported foodstuff, despite publicly waging a brutal and repressive campaign against decadence and degeneracy. He has built a shrine of images of himself, forgoing church or quiet contemplation on Sundays in favor of throwing lavish parties where he drunkenly belittles his guests.

The hypocrisy of D'Amaro is juxtaposed with the good nature of Mario di Brambilla (Giordano), a spirited, handsome, urbane up-and-comer within the Mansillan National Party and former military police colonel. A man of the people, Colonel Brambilla gives freely to his downtrodden neighbors, assists his community in constructing a plaza, and instills good morals in his young-adult daughter, Angela (Baresi), who he raises as a single father due to the death of his wife in 1957. At the behest of his friends and family, Brambilla runs for a seat on the Voccientilles, the Mansillan parliament, and is easily elected, defeating the pompous D'Amaro-backed candidate, Piero Pugliesi (Femia). Simultaneously, Brambilla’s daughter begins dating Giancarlo Ricci (Ricci), a young party member.

During a session of the Voccientilles, Brambilla calls for an end to many of D'Amaro’s draconian and unpopular policies, including a near-total ban on imported goods, which has caused mass starvation and poverty within the nation. The Vocientilles applaud Brambilla, but D'Amaro, enraged, calls for a meeting with Brambilla. D'Amaro attempts to scare Brambilla into retracting his incendiary speech, declaring that, as Prime Minister, D'Amaro believes himself to be above all, even the King, even God. Unintimidated by D'Amaro’s tacit threats, Brambilla refuses to back down, so an assassin is dispatched to kill him in his sleep. Brambilla easily thwarts the assassination attempt and convinces the people of Mansilla, the army, and the Voccientilles to back him in an attempt to remove D'Amaro from power. The people of Brunelli, Mansilla, led by local disruptor Antonio Calabresi (Pirlo), form a lynch mob and come for D'Amaro in the summer of 1978, but Brambilla talks them down in an impassioned speech. D'Amaro is arrested and Brambilla is named Prime Minister by the Party. The final scene of the movie, shot in color, depicts Brambilla giving his daughter away at her wedding to Giancarlo Ricci in 1980.

Cast

Vitale Giordano as Mario di Brambilla

Filippo Gallo as Lorenzo D'Amaro

Pino Femia as Piero Pugliesi

Silvia Baresi as Angela di Brambilla

Valentino Pirlo as Antonio Calabresi

Antonio Ricci as Giancarlo Ricci

Criticism and Acclaim

Experts on Mansillan history generally agree that the film lacks any merit as an accurate depiction of the ascension of Brambilla to the position of Prime Minister. Brambilla was never a populist and was born into relative wealth, never living in the working-class environment he was shown to reside in during the film. Additionally, D'Amaro never dispatched an assassin to kill Brambilla. The truth of D'Amaro's fall from power was far less stylish than the film would suggest. In reality D'Amaro made a series of critical political blunders, alienating even his political allies from his regime by the late 1970s, and became increasingly aloof and eccentric. Brambilla, who had deep connections within the Mansillan military's upper echelons, took advantage of D'Amaro's poor politicking and increasingly erratic behavior to force the Prime Minister into an early retirement.

The film’s score, however, has been unequivocally praised. Performed by Orchestra Filarmonica Reale, the movie's score includes a mix of classical Mansillan pieces, jazz pieces popular in the late 1970s in Mansilla, and original music written for the film by composer Vinicio Padovesi. In Mansilla, Death of a Madman is considered to have one of the greatest soundtracks of any domestic film.

Vitale Giordano's portrayal of Di Brambilla was further praised, though many found his casting a bit anachronistic, since Giordano was 36 at the start of filming. Mario di Brambilla was in his mid-50s during the actual coup of D'Amaro, making Giordano almost two decades younger than his character.