In "Fiume o Morte!", Igor Bezinović challenges common filmmaking practices that oversimplify historical narratives. By revealing his creative process, Bezinović combines non-fiction with fiction to document the tumultuous events surrounding Gabriele D'Annunzio’s occupation of Rijeka from 1919 to 1921. His personal connection to the story and the reliance on nonprofessional actors highlights the absurdity of dramatizing history. This innovative approach lends significant depth to the reflection on modern interpretations of historical events, presenting D'Annunzio's dictatorship in a way that intertwines archival footage, interviews, and reenactments, captured with a playful sensibility.
Many filmmakers display undue faith in their ability to depict ways of life far outside their own experience. This self-confidence is particularly egregious in depictions of distant history, where imagination courts fabrication.
Bezinović confronts this problem boldly and brilliantly in "Fiume o Morte!" by showing his process. He combines nonfiction elements with fictionalizations of historical events, turning the work into a documentary about its own making.
The film focuses on the period between 1919 and 1921, when Gabriele D'Annunzio led a convoy of rebel soldiers into Rijeka, consolidating power and ruling as a dictator, with results oppressive for the city.
Bezinović presents D'Annunzio's autocratic rise, reign, and fall in a way that's as unusual as it is revelatory, using archival material and nonprofessional actors to re-create the occupation.
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