At the start of The Big Fake, a Netflix dramatization of one criminal’s involvement in the most tumultuous events in post-war Italy, Toni Chichiarelli (Pietro Castellitto) is a talented painter living hand-to-mouth as a portrait artist on the streets of Rome. It’s the 1970s, deep in Italy’s “Years of Lead,” an era of turmoil marked by political terrorism by neo-fascists and far-left militants like the “Red Brigades,” not to mention interference from the Italian state and profiteering from organized crime groups. As Toni tells us via voiceover, in a time when Rome was home to all sorts of people—bishops, artists, criminals, communists, and fascists—all he cared about was being the best out of them all.
Toni’s blasé egotism is mostly consistent across a film filled with conspiracy, backstabbing, and political fallout. Lacking the robust convictions of his two childhood friends who come with him to Rome from their home in the Lake Duchessa area—the priest Vittorio (Andrea Arcangeli) and the future Red Brigade member Fabione (Pierluigi Gigante). Toni’s amoral ambition leads to a life of forgery, producing perfect replicas of paintings for his gallery owner girlfriend Donata (Giulia Michelini) and other lucrative jobs for the Banda della Magliana, a criminal organization stretching its wings in Rome, with the charismatic Balbo (Edoardo Pesce) taking the forger under his wing.
Soon, history comes a-knocking; in 1978, the Red Brigades kidnap former Prime Minister Aldo Moro, holding him captive and demanding the release of political prisoners as ransom. After a brief stint as an aloof, romantic crook, Toni has a head-on collision with the Years of Lead when a state policeman referred to only as “The Tailor” (Claudio Santamaria) enlists Toni’s meticulous forgery skills for “the common good.” He must forge a communiqué from the Red Brigade announcing that Aldo Moro has killed himself in their custody, even though he hasn’t. It’s a…
