In 1943 Genoa, habitual gambler and amoral swindler Emanuele Bardone is a charming petty conman who supports his addiction by posing as a middleman between the worried relatives of the Gestapo captives and the German authorities--at the right price, of course. However, when Bardone is caught in the act, and his luck runs out, he has no other choice but to accept the offer of S.S. Colonel Müller to impersonate the recently-killed General Della Rovere, a true hero of the Italian Resistance, instead of facing a firing squad. Now, as Emanuele enters a political prison in Milan in high hopes of drawing information about the hidden identity of another leader of the Resistance, little by little, his new mockery eventually awakens a slumbering conscience. In the end, who is Emanuele? Is he a hero, or is he a fake?
—Nick Riganas