The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui (1957)

Chef minable d'une bande de gangsters du Bronx, Arturo Ui parvient à s'imposer par la terreur comme 'protecteur' du trust du chou-fleur à Chicago. Il réduit au silence un politicien corrompu, Hindsborough, fait éliminer par Gori (Goering) et Gobbola (Goebbels), ses séides, un homme de main à lui, Roma (Röhm), assassine le patron du trust des légumes de Cicero, la ville voisine, et séduit la veuve de celui-ci, quasiment sur le cercueil de la victime. Le résultat est que l'on vote partout pour lui, tant à Cicero qu'à Chicago. D'autres crimes et d'autres conquêtes suivront. Rien n'arrêtera Arturo Ui, hormis les peuples, qui finiront par en avoir raison. 'Mais il ne faut pas nous chanter victoire, il est encore trop tôt : le ventre est encore fécond, d'où a surgi la bête immonde.'

Hitler as a cauliflower-dealing gangster in Chicago.
By presenting the successive installation of a fascist system on a much smaller scale, Brecht not only makes Hitler look ridiculous. He also proves totalitarianism is possible everywhere and at every-time.
One has to add that Brecht did not have the chance to complete this play. While its content appears all done, it's lacking polishing, as Brecht admitted in a letter. However, this does not minor the enjoyment that comes with reading this drama. It does not require deeper involvement and can be read within a day. ( )

The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui shows the underhanded dealings of a group of gangsters involved in Chicago's green vegetables business. The members of the Cauliflower Trust are led by a formerly powerful bad-guy named Arturo Ui, who is determined to rise to prominence again. Together, they are about as unlikeable characters as you are ever likely to meet: they connive, murder, and commit arson, sucking innocent people into their schemes and killing off those who refuse to cooperate. It is all great fun to see, but Brecht, in typical fashion, pulls the reader out of the play by the regular insertion of signs that chronicle how Hitler rose to power using methods similar to the dastardly Arturo Ui.

The point of The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui is not the plot. The title of the play pretty much tells it all, and many of the details of the plot are told in the prologue. The enjoyable part is seeing how it all happens and what kinds of crookery the characters get up to. ( )