Fiume o morte! (2025) Characters, Setting & Themes Explained

Fiume is the Italian name for Rijeka, a Croatian port city on the Adriatic coast. It carries a layered past of shifting national claims, having been contested between Italy, Croatia, and the Habsburg Empire for generations. The documentary uses Rijeka's streets and harbor as a backdrop where archival material and reenactments connect this contested history to the present day.

• fiume
• rijeka
• adriatic
• contested city
• italian history
• croatia

Gabriele D'Annunzio was an Italian poet, playwright, and military figure whose political ambitions shaped early twentieth-century Italy. The film centers on his decision to lead a force into Fiume in 1919 and his attempt to establish a new state there. Through reenactments performed by multiple actors, the documentary explores his charisma, rhetoric, and the way myth and propaganda intertwined with his historical role.

• gabriele d'annunzio
• italian poet
• military figure
• fiume occupation
• propaganda

The film centers on the immediate aftermath of World War I, specifically the years 1919 and 1920. It follows D'Annunzio's arrival in Fiume in September 1919 and his campaign to annex the city to Italy. The narrative then moves to the confrontation of December 1920 that ended the occupation, before returning to reflections on present-day Rijeka.

• post-world war i
• 1919
• 1920
• fiume occupation
• interwar period

The hybrid approach is used to reconstruct the Fiume occupation in a way that keeps memory active rather than static. Archive photographs, narration, and documentary footage are interwoven with scenes staged by local residents, blurring the line between history and performance. This method turns memory into a living, collaborative process that invites the audience to participate in reconstructing the past.

• reenactment
• archival footage
• documentary hybrid
• performance
• memory

Local residents form an ensemble that performs roles of soldiers, citizens, and officials from the Fiume occupation. Their involvement is documented through auditions, rehearsals, and collaborative discussions about which materials to use. This process shows how ordinary people become stewards of memory, connecting past events to the life of the city today.

• rijeka residents
• ensemble
• community
• auditions
• local memory

The Italian Regency of Carnaro was the short-lived state that D'Annunzio proclaimed after seizing Fiume in 1919. It reflected his attempt to annex the city to Italy and to build a political project that combined nationalism, aesthetic symbolism, and military force. The regency became a key precursor to the rise of early fascism in Italy, and its collapse in December 1920 marked a turning point in the region's political history.

• italian regency of carnaro
• dannunzio
• fiume
• annexation
• proto-fascism

Fiume o morte! builds its narrative around three intersecting themes: memory, reenactment, and sovereignty. Memory is treated as a living force that shapes Rijeka's civic identity through stories, images, and staged scenes. Reenactment blurs documentary and performance by placing local residents inside historical roles, while sovereignty frames the clash over who controls the city and how those claims still echo today.

• memory
• reenactment
• sovereignty
• themes
• identity
• history

The documentary approaches early fascism through D'Annunzio's complex personality and his occupation of Fiume, showing how charisma, rhetoric, and political spectacle foreshadowed later movements. Rather than framing him as a simple villain, the film explores the ambiguity of a figure whose aesthetics and nationalism fed into the broader rise of Mussolini's Italy. The portrait is observational and melancholic, emphasizing the long shadows cast by this moment rather than dramatizing it.

• early fascism
• mussolini
• nationalism
• dannunzio
• italian history

The film moves fluidly between 1919 Rijeka, the 1920 confrontation, and the contemporary city, using archival material, narration, and staged scenes performed in real locations. Residents of modern Rijeka step into the roles of historical figures, so the past is literally inhabited in today's streets and harbor. This interplay underscores how the memory of the occupation continues to shape the city's civic identity and conversations.

• rijeka today
• past and present
• civic identity
• memory
• occupation

Igor Bezinović is the filmmaker who frames the documentary, guiding interviews, archival research, and the reconstruction of events. He makes the editorial process visible, including debates over which materials to use and how to balance documentary truth with staged performance. His presence turns the film into a meta-reflection on how history is researched, performed, and remembered.

• igor bezinovic
• director
• documentary
• editorial process
• meta-film