I think The Conformist should stand out as a powerful study of fascism...
The Conformist is the archetype of the man whom the fascist regime sought to create through its revolution. In reality, fascism was a revolution against revolution itself. It was founded as a reaction against communism, but it did not stop there. Its primary goal was to create a “new” man who would be defined neither by the values of liberal democracy nor by Marxist concerns. It was a revolution that never intended to come into conflict with the elites or the capitalist system. On the contrary, its consolidation served as a bulwark of their interests.
Fascism sought to radicalize nationalism by transforming the nation into a “pure” race, defined by the conclusions of Social Darwinism and natural selection. Democracy became an outdated system, while the individual was expected to lose his identity by becoming part of the masses, which fascism manipulated for its own purposes, all within an atmosphere of a mythical historical past that paradoxically coexisted with the technological progress of the twentieth century and its potential for war and destruction. The concepts of imperialism and colonialism entered the program as guiding principles for military expansionist ambitions.
Fascism glorified masculine strength and its supposedly innate drive for action and military adventures. This became the basis for its hostility toward those it considered deviant: the homosexual, seen as a discordant presence within its ideals; the political dissenter; and the racial Other. All of them belonged to the enemies of the rebirth of the race and of a nation preparing itself to achieve greatness through conquest.
Not coincidentally, Jean-Louis Trintignant’s character is a man who, on the one hand, has suppressed his sexual desires. As Wilhelm Reich argued, the rise of Nazism was inextricably linked to the repressed eroticism of German society. On the other hand, he desires absolute alignment with fascism, where conformity was an uncompromising expression of its dominance. His goal is to become part of the masses, which, despite fascism’s promises, never emerge as historical subjects. Instead, they become convenient, silent instruments of its plans. The Conformist is a man who does not want to have an identity of his own. He hates the prospect of freedom because he wants to surrender the reins of his existence to the blind guidance of the party, which demands that he act without moral hesitation.
The Conformist is a little man who, like a bureaucrat, believes that carrying out his duty is a task stripped of moral reflection, and yet he is too cowardly both to kill and to love. He is part of the great shadow cast by fascism, destined to move only within it, incapable of existing without it. The absolute embodiment of fascist ideology.
