Vincere (in English, 'To Win') is a 2009 Italian biographical historical drama film based on the life of Benito Mussolini's first wife, Ida Dalser.
[1] It won four Silver Hugos at the Chicago International Film Festival (Best Actor (Filippo Timi), Best Actress (Giovanna Mezzogiorno), Best Director and Best Cinematography (Daniele Ciprì).
The film opens in 1907, with Ida Dalser watching a speech by the young journalist and socialist Benito Mussolini.
[4] Vincere was well received by French critics during the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, and was considered to be a possible Palme d'Or contender, along with Un Prophète from Jacques Audiard and (the eventual winner) The White Ribbon from Michael Haneke.
[5] In the Los Angeles Times, critic Saul Austerlitz wrote:"Vincere is a melodrama with pretensions to the operatic, but it is also, like all of Bellocchio’s work, a study in human frailty and grace -- a black canvas studded with shafts of brilliant light.