CINEMA IN ITALY AND GERMANY: IN AN ERA OF FASCISM

Abstract [English]

The rise of Fascism and Nazism in Italy and Germany respectively brought about several changes in filmmaking in those countries in the 1930s and the 1940s. The Nazis were aware of the use of cinema as an instrument of propaganda and established their cinema institutions and brought cinema under the control of the Ministry of Propaganda. The primary task of Nazis was to reshape the imagination and perception of the masses according to their persuasions. The Triumph of Will (1935), directed by Leni Riefenstahl, was the filmic referent of Hitler's glorification in colossal style; it was a product of her intimate relationship with Hitler and her Nazi affiliations.

In Germany, due to state repression and persecution several left-wing and Jewish filmmakers fled to various European countries. In 1926 in Italy the production of newsreels and documentaries was nationalized by the government, bringing them under state control. The Italian cinema during the Fascist rule (1922-43) was traditionally seen as a cinema of propaganda. Recent research on the films produced in Italy during the Fascist period points out that only a few films can be called “Fascist”, a huge number have nationalist and patriotic themes. It can be argued that the number of films produced was less important than the production ideology i.e. thematic concerns and degree of association with Fascist ideals. Under the Fascist rule of Mussolini, the kind of cinema being created was detached from reality and aimed at promoting an excellent image of Italy. It can be argued that restricting the intelligentsia and masses to a particular genre or style of cinema, which was away from reality, shows the authoritarian attitude and censorship intentions of the Fascist state.