Final Rating: 2.5/5
In My Boyfriend The Fascist (My boyfriend el fascista), Matthias Lintner and his boyfriend, Sadiel Gonzalez, live in the Alps region of Italy. Matthias is a filmmaker, and Sadiel works in a hotel and is an activist for Cuban freedom. He engages with organizations advocating for political prisoners. However, Matthias observes his partner leaning towards extremism.
He documents the sudden flirting with far-right movements in Italy. Therefore, the director watches his loved one engage with organizations vocally against their existence, such as the Lega Nord and Georgia Meloni’s Fratelli d’Italia. Matthias gets stuck in a moral dilemma: continue his relationship with a fascist or lose his love?
In a diary documentary, Lintner establishes a sense of routine. He films a sequence of their daily lives and introduces his activism as a customary aspect of their realities. Sadiel talks and plans activities on FaceTime with other Cuban immigrants; they protest with chains in front of Italian monuments in Venice and try to advocate with people in Berlin. He creates an order of the facts and how everything happens.
Therefore, the audience must feel as shocked as he felt by his partner’s radical ideas. The visit to Karl Marx’s and Friedrich Engels’ statues in Berlin catalyzes his anger for the theory, and he does not want to hear any contradictory voices. As they participate in other political activities, his statements get worse and condescending to fascism.
The film suits a time when radicalism happens worldwide. We could argue how it spread after Donald Trump’s first term in 2016 and reached multiple countries. Anti-transgender, anti-immigration, economic protectionism, and unlimited free speech were the values of a newly branded right-wing ideology. Hence, a new assembly of veteran populist politicians would earn the working class’s sympathy for their discourse on how they could combat the left’s incompetence and regain economic force.
Historically, monetary decline leads to authoritarianism and miraculous populist leaders. In a sense, Sadiel’s wrath comes from a diplomatic left wing that will not speak on the problems in Cuba. His pain finds comfort in the far right.
At the same time, Matthias presents a time capsule of our times. Relationships are fractured by diverging political opinions. Yet, we cannot connect with a character as insufferable as Sadiel. We can understand his indignation at the lack of support from the international community for Cuba. However, his drive for change becomes arrogance and class blindness. The same one-sided policy he criticizes on the left applies to his support of Fratelli d’Italia and Georgia Meloni. He cannot tolerate the hypocrisies of the left, but he is okay with her statement diminishing Benito Mussolini’s actions.
Also, Meloni is an avid opponent to the LGBTQIANP+ community and same-sex marriage, which he proudly says he does not care about as long as the far-right supports Cuba. Each one of his sayings is more pathetic and contradictory than before.
In this sense, the film represents a failed relationship when one person will not listen. Indeed, the film suffers in its middle section with the protagonism of Sadiel’s adventures with the far-right. He votes for the first time for Georgia Meloni and sings an Italian hymn against fascism. Worse than an uninformed fascist is one strongly minded that subverts the historical value of an art that celebrates Benito’s downfall.
The contradictions from Sadiel expose the failed attempt at dialogue with extremism. It may start as an opposing vision, but it grows into advocating against minorities. The film suffers from a lack of progression and a dragged rhythm, boosted by an uninteresting and hypocritical subject. Matthias’ discovery arc engages more as it narratively feels like a chain getting broken, and he finally acknowledges his radical partner.
In a bittersweet effort, the film provides a case study of how fascism blinds people. Yet, the insurable subject that we were supposed to feel drags an exercise of analysis of modern relationships in the era of neo-fascist politics.
My Boyfriend the Fascist was seen during the 2025 Hot Docs film festival.
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