| “ | I like puppets. | „ |
| ~ Mussolini expressing his enjoyment of puppet shows to Count Volpe. |
| “ | These puppets, I do not like. Shoot him...and burn it all down. | „ |
| ~ Mussolini ordering one of his soldiers to shoot Pinocchio after he gave a blasphemous show. |
Benito Mussolini is the overarching antagonist of the 2022 Netflix stop-motion animated musical fantasy film Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio, which is based on Gris Grimly's designs from his 2002 edition of the late Carlo Collodi's 1883 Italian novel The Adventures of Pinocchio.
He is, like in real-life, the leader of the Fascist Italy during the 1930s. Wishing to spread his totalitarian ideology over the world, Mussolini assigns the Podestà to recruit all soldiers possible for his own army, which leads his subordinate to discover a magical wooden talking puppet known as Pinocchio.
He was voiced by Tom Kenny, who also voiced Patches in The Powerpuff Girls, Mumbo Jumbo in Teen Titans, the Penguin in The Batman animated series, the Ice King in Adventure Time, Reverend Rosty in Brickleberry, Commander Peepers in Wander Over Yonder, Knightbrace and the Common Cold in Codename: Kids Next Door and Starscream in Transformers: Animated.
Biography[]
Background[]
Mussolini was born in the 29th of July of 1883 in Predappio, Italy. Originally a traditional socialist activist, after the events of the first World War towards the far-right, becoming increasingly more ultra-nationalist, national socialist and militarist. He founded the Fascist Party in 1919, and with their help, in 1922, assumed the government of Italy as a dictator.
Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio[]
In the movie, Mussolini's takeover of Italy happens offscreen. Soon after the end of the First World War, where Geppetto's son Carlo died, Mussolini's Fascist Party overthrew the then monarchist government of Italy after being appointed as prime minister and, subsequently, dismantling the democratic institutions. Proclaiming himself as the sole dictator of Italy, Mussolini adopted the title of "Il Duce" (lit. "the leader" in Italian). After the start of the second World War, Italy became an ally of Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany and Emperor Hirohito's Imperial Japan, thus forming the so-called Axis Powers.
He remains largely unseen in the movie, mostly just appearing in posters, pictures and engravings seen in buildings of the town. His influence, however, is felt throughout the entire film, with characters such as the Podestà being directly connected to his Fascist Party. Count Volpe also states that he and Mussolini are very close friends, although that was most likely a lie, as his only proof of them being close is a photo that Volpe took of himself which happened to have Il Duce in it. He makes his first and only physical appearance when Volpe's circus arrives at Catania, Sicily to hold a special presentation to him, where Pinocchio would perform the nationalist propaganda song "Fatherland March". After the puppet goes off-script and instead performs a ridiculous parody of the song filled with disgusting toilet humor that mocks the Fascist leader, making him the laughingstock of several children and possibly their parents who came to watch the show, Mussolini gets annoyed and orders his subordinate to shoot Pinocchio and burn the circus down. Pinocchio then wakes up in a truck heading to a Fascist child military training camp, commanded by the Podestà.
Although this is the last time Mussolini was seen or heard in the film, in real life, Mussolini was deposed as dictator in 1943, after the Axis Powers were defeated in the war. He would subsequently be arrested and executed and his Fascist Party was officially dismantled. Assuming the film's epilogue happens long after the Second World War, it's fair to agree that Mussolini is already dead by the time Pinocchio leaves his village to travel around the world following the deaths of Geppeto, Sebastian J. Cricket and Spazzatura.
Trivia[]
- The involvement of Benito Mussolini in Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio film serves as an allegory which relates to Pinocchio himself: whereas much of the public behave like "obedient puppets" who in Mussolini's political environment, Pinocchio chooses to not imitate what the others do and do whatever he wants.
- Benito Mussolini's appearance in the film is something new for a Pinocchio adaptation, as no other Pinocchio re-tellings, as well as the original book, have ever featured Mussolini. This is due to all of them taking place in the late 19th century while Guillermo del Toro's adaptation takes place in the early 20th century.
- Coincidentally, the original Pinocchio story was written in 1883, which was the exact same year the real life Mussolini was born.
- Unlike the real Benito Mussolini, who was 1.69 cm taller, the film's Benito is depicted as a lot shorter, as if he were a dwarf. While one can believe he was depicted as such to make fun of him or to symbolize how childish he behaves due to Pinocchio mocking him, some fans have theorized that maybe the Mussolini seen in the film was actually a double because, as heavily implied by Count Volpe's photo of a Fascist rally, it's highly unlikely Mussolini was friends with him, or even that he knew the Count, to be precise.
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 Villains
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Books Pinocchio by Winshluss: Stromboli.inc(Mr. Stromboli) | Nazi clowns | Geppeto |Geppeto's wife | The organ collector | The Mutant dogfish |wonder and el baron | The seven rapists Movies | ||