| “ | You filthy coward!!! Yes, you are weak! You are no son of mine!!! | „ |
| ~ The Podestá disowning Candlewick. |
The Podestá is the main antagonist of the 2022 stop-motion animated musical fantasy film Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio, based on Gris Grimly's designs from his 2002 edition of the late Carlo Collodi's 1883 novel The Adventures of Pinocchio.
He is a former blacksmith who became a strict high-ranking officer in his town when fascism took hold of Italy in the 1930s. He eventually comes across an unkillable wooden boy named Pinocchio, whom he plans to recruit into the army of Fascist Italy and mold into a "perfect soldier."
He was voiced by Ron Perlman, who also played Mr. Grasping.
What Makes Him a Hate Sink?[]
- While he initially seemed like a decent man before Italy went fascist, complimenting Geppetto as a model Italian citizen, it's very clear that after becoming Podestá, he is no longer a nice person.
- Even during this time, he didn't bother comforting Geppetto after losing his son Carlo.
- He chastises Geppetto for Pinocchio's misbehavior, even though the boy is only two days old by this point, and doesn't understand the strict environment he's in nor the consequences of his actions.
- He completely refused to take responsibility for running over Pinocchio with his truck, blaming Geppetto for not teaching Pinocchio about not going into the road.
- As Pinocchio's dead body is being inspected, he silences Geppetto and Count Volpe over their "petty grievances," which is highly insensitive, as Geppetto just watched his new son die, and Volpe lost a lucrative actor.
- While Volpe was greedy and exploitative, the Podestá was not aware of the extent his selfishness went, and as far as he knew was demeaning a man for being upset that he lost a potential source of income.
- As soon as Pinocchio revives, the Podestá immediately decides to conscript him into the army, which is even more insensitive due to Geppetto having lost Carlo to an Allied bombing.
- He takes all of his town's children, including his son Candlewick, to a fascist youth training camp. They do a paintball exercise to simulate a trench battle, engineered to indoctrinate the kids with a no mercy mentality when it comes to enemies, with the Podestá saying that no matter what, a player with a different color is their enemy.
- On top of that, the Podesta knew that there were enemy planes in the area, and thus the exercise was endangering the kids if the planes decided to drop bombs, which they eventually did, proving he didn't care about his own people.
- After Pinocchio and Candlewick choose to end the paintball game in a tie, the Podestá orders the latter to shoot the former. Candlewick's reluctance is only met with his father wrathfully making the demand a second time.
- When Candlewick refuses to relent and finally stands up to the Podestá, the latter scolds him, saying he is no son of his, and throws him in a pit before trying to shoot Pinocchio himself, and would have succeeded had Candlewick not blinded him with a paintball gun.
- Though his facial expressions when Candlewick stands up to him suggest second thoughts on the Podestá's part, this doesn't go anywhere, having no redeeming qualities by the time he died in the bombing.
- He is a massive hypocrite; despite his claims that real men aren't afraid to die for the Fatherland, he panicked and tried to escape when the Allied bomb was about to fall on him, showing the coward he truly is.
- He is a terrible family man:
- It's made clear the Candlewick has always tried to please his father, and realizes he never will. As stated above, the Podestá disowns him for refusing to follow his orders, even though doing so was just as brave as going to war, since defiance toward the authorities in Fascist Italy would endanger one's life just as much as war, further adding to the Podestá's hypocrisy.
- His relationship with his wife is largely unexplored, but from what is seen, he acts cold towards her, not even comforting her as he took Candlewick to the training camp.
- He lacks the enjoyable traits of the movie's other villains, such as the flamboyance and charisma of Count Volpe, the character arc of Spazzatura, and the comedic nature of Benito Mussolini. While he does have a very intimidating presence and vocal performance, this does not serve to make him likeable, especially when one considers the coward he is beneath this commanding facade.
External Links[]
- The Podestà on the Villains Wiki
- The Podestà on the Pure Evil Wiki
