‘Il Federale’ or — As Funny as ‘Midnight Run’?
1944 — one of the most violent and dangerous periods in Italian history as it was, in effect, a time of civil war with a constant threat of annihilation not just from German or Allied forces but from your fellow Italians a stark reality. The fascist Republic of Salo controlled the North, partisans patrolled the countryside and WW II raged everywhere else. The average person was caught in the middle.
It is against this backdrop that committed fascist, Primo Arcovazzi (Ugo Tognazzi), is instructed by his superiors to take into custody and escort notorious anti-fascist philosopher, professor Erminio Bonafè (Georges Wilson), from Cremona to Rome, presumably for execution. If Primo succeeds in this task he’ll be promoted.
Pretty grim sounding stuff, right? And by all rights should be if it wasn’t for the fact that ‘Il Federale’ (1961), or ‘The Fascist’, plays out less like a traumatic war film and more like an Italian neorealist version of Martin Brest’s excellent ‘Midnight Run’ (1988) with Tognazzi’s Primo taking the Robert De Niro bounty-hunter role and Wilson as Grodin’s seemingly naïve and inept accountant. And the result is hilarious
The entire movie is one long, increasingly daft road trip with Tognazzi determined to get Wilson to Rome in time in order to receive that much desired promotion whilst Wilson does everything his power to escape, sabotage or just generally screw-up Tognazzi’s mission.
Along the way they encounter all sorts of various impediments, challenges and obstructive characters, all of which are extremely humourous in nature as well as allowing for genuinely sharp and smart digs about the insanity not just of war or even fascism itself but what the everyday person had to do to survive.
There’s an incredibly funny moment where they meet, for about the umpteenth time, a beautiful young woman, Lisa (Stefania Sandrelli), who keeps stealing their belongings then selling them back to them. Tognazzi who, for increasingly ridiculous reasons, keeps losing his RSI uniform buys an elaborate replacement fascist outfit from Lisa for his triumphant entrance to Rome with Lisa enthusiastically telling him “I’ll even give you the hat with the golden chicken.” An offended Tognazzi informs her it’s an eagle. (We also soon realise, and long before Tognazzi does, exactly why fascist unforms are suddenly so easy to come by in the area and it’s as worrisome as it is funny)
Yet what makes the film really work is the relationship between Primo and Bonafè, one a simple man suckered in by Mussolini’s myth of brute, muscular force and the other a refined intellectual who believes in freedom of thought. Yet because Bonafè uses his brains it means that, out of the two of them, he’s the one you could classify, much like with Charles Grodin’s Mardukas, as the mischievous prick. Yes, he obviously needs to escape for reasons of self-preservation but the fact he’s always pulling a fast one on the simple-minded fascist means we never truly detest Primo, especially as we quickly realise Primo’s loyalty is purely because he’s been suckered in by a lie as opposed to any genuine faith.
There’s a reason Ugo Tognazzi was regarded as one of the greatest comedy actors Italy ever produced and the warmth he brings to his character elicits enough sympathy that, by the end, we completely understand (and are actively cheering on) Bonafè’s final decision, whereas I suspect that if either Vittorio Gassman, or especially Alberto Sordi, had played the role we’d have happily allowed either of them to have been shot.
The film was directed by Luciano Salce, an incredibly talented filmmaker responsible for some great Italian comedies, including the first two highly popular (and incredibly sharp and meta) ‘Fantozzi’ movies. In my opinion, ‘Il Federale’ isn’t just up there with his best but, what with its perfect balancing of humour and humanity, might just be his best.
