In 1938, a handful of
blackshirts, commanded by
gerarca Gaetano Maria Barbagli, embarked on the prototype German space rocket
Repentaglia IV, built with the help of physicist
Ettore Majorana, and set out to conquer Mars, the “red
Bolshevik and traitorous planet.” Arriving at their destination after a meteorite impact at 3 p.m. on 10 May 1939, the men set out to explore the planet, solving the first major problem, the rarefaction of the atmosphere, with a simple order from Barbagli: “Breathe!” After planting the flag and setting up camp, the problem of food and supplies arises: there is no water on the planet, and so during the search the four underlings come to mistake a spit from the gerarca as a sign of his presence. While searching the rocket's cargo hold, the handful discovers a clandestine
Balilla, named Bruno Caorso, thirty-seven years old and declared retarded, on board. He outrages the bust of the
Duce and, fleeing from the firing squad, comes across a strange rock; believing it to be an animate being, he returns to the camp terrified and recounts having encountered Martians, swearing that he heard them say the word “mimimmi.” The fascists then, considering the stones to be sentient beings (“mimics”), begin a brief campaign for the planet's subjugation and, after concluding it, declare Mars as “fascist territory,” and begin organizing the planet's domination. Food, however, is scarce, and the lack of supplies, coupled with the accidental destruction of the spaceship with a balloon shot, leads the underlings to mutiny against the commander during a
meteor shower mistaken for an attack by
partisan mimics. Barbagli, however, breaks free and engages in combat against the mutineers; in the course of the battle an
UFO suddenly lands, which turns out to be piloted by a group of alien
Amazons. These conduct research on the planet, heedless of the human presence, and indeed offer the hapless comrades, in the meantime reacquainted, food and water; Barbagli refuses outside help and tries in every way to show the visitors the power of “Mars Littorio,” exasperating the Amazon leader to such an extent that the latter decides to offer them a ride to Earth. The gerarca does everything he can to stop his subordinates from leaving, but he is unable to stop them and finds himself alone on the red planet, powerless and doomed to certain death. The adventurous journey of these men soon falls into oblivion due to the events of
World War II, and at the end of the conflict no one has any interest in remembering this work of conquest; only fifty-eight years later, in 1996, during the
Mars Pathfinder mission, the
Sojourner rover discovers what remains of Barbagli's skeleton. == Cast ==