Fellini uses a recollection of his youth in his film, Amarcord in order to critique the indifferent attitudes of Italians, while fascism come to power. Many filmmakers of his generation tackled the fascist agenda in their films, but Fellini discussed fascism in a revolutionary way. He focused on the apathy of average Italians in Amarcord, and their apathy can be attributed to fascisms absurdity in Italy.

Wheatcroft, Geoffrey. “Sham and Bluster; An epic history helps explain why the Italians never took fascism entirely seriously.” The Washington Post 9 April 2006. <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/06/AR2006040601748.html>

Geoffrey Wheatcroft picks apart R.J.B. Bosworth’s book Life under the Fascist Dictatorship, 1915-1945 in his article “Sham and Buster; An epic history helps explain why the Italians never took fascism entirely seriously”. In his analysis of the book, he resolves to call Italian fascism something of a farce. In comparison to Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia, totalitarian rule in Italy was laid-back. He credits this to the Italian proclivity towards not taking politics seriously. This tendency makes Italy’s history with fascism almost humorous. Bosworth’s book points out Mussolini’s failures after declaring war on France and England, Italy’s failure to recognize Libya’s vast oil fields after ruling the country for decades and how one fascist leader became one of the first fatalities in the war after his plane was brought down by an Italian anti-aircraft weapon. Hitler once said the Italians never had their hearts in fascism and “the excessive warmth of family relations there overwhelms all the rest.” Wheatcroft regards Italy as a timid, insignificant force in their run-in with fascism.

Geoffrey Wheatcroft has pulled out points from R.J.B. Bosworth’s non-fiction and embellished them with conclusions of his own. His sentiments draw parallels to Federico Fellini’s Amarcord. Fellini’s film uses humor in a way to mock and ridicule fascist ideals. The film was in fact very critical of fascism, whether intentional or not, and the humor plays with fascism’s absurdity. Wheatcroft instead ridicules Italy’s dabble with fascism. Many Italians failed to take fascism too seriously, and in a way, this had to do with the absurdity of it. Wheatcroft also discusses the nonchalant attitude of Italians towards politics. Similarly, Fellini’s film focuses much attention on the everyday, care-free attitudes of a small, isolated community of Italians.