The Big Fake’s ending was all about Toni Chichiarelli serving up his friend, Vittorio, on a platter to the Tailor in order to avoid facing the consequences of his actions. How did things come to that? Toni and his two friends, Vittorio and Fabione, came to Rome to make a name for themselves. Toni wooed Donata, an art dealer who sold fake art, thereby allowing Toni to make some quick money, because he was great at forging other artists’ work. Donata then introduced Toni to Balbo, a gangster, who employed Toni because of his excellent forgery skills. On the side, Toni was working with Fabione to steal stuff from safes, with the most important item being Prime Minister Aldo Moro’s memoir, which was something that benefited the Red Brigade. And then there was the Tailor, who was a part of the State, who took an interest in Toni (via Balbo) because he could use his ability to forge anything to malign the Red Brigade. Now, when Moro was kidnapped by the Red Brigade, the Tailor roped in Toni to frame Fabione and the Red Brigade in various ways so that the State would get the green light to attack them with full force. However, when Moro’s dead body turned up, things for Toni and his friends, real and fake, started to go downhill. Balbo was the first to croak. When Toni refused to help the Tailor by acquiring the memoir from Fabione, he had his hands wrecked, which put him out of commission for a while. Fabione bit the dust next, even though he had given up the memoir to Toni. That left Toni and Vittorio. Who survived and who died? And what does the final outcome say about who Toni was as a person? Let’s find out.
Spoiler Alert
Toni’s Last Heist
Since Fabione was killed for possessing Moro’s memoir, Toni knew that as soon as he handed it over to the Tailor, he’d catch a bullet in the head too. Toni’s brief fling with Virginia had created a rift in his relationship with Donata. He had managed to fix that once he found out that Donata was pregnant with his child, which became another reason for his urge to survive the Tailor’s wrath. He planned to get away from Italy, for which he needed money. So, he stashed the memoir in Vitorrio’s safe and got in touch with Zu Pippo—someone for whom Toni had made a fake version of Jacques-Louis David’s Napoleon Crossing the Alps—with the proposal of helping him retrieve the money that had been stolen from him and stashed in a warehouse in Via Aurelia, which belonged to the reserve. If he succeeded in pulling off that heist, he’d take a slice of the pie and vanish into thin air with Donata and their baby. Once Zu Pippo gave him the green light, Toni assembled Balbo’s old team, Crocca, the Driver, and Stutty, and they held Cesare, an employee of the reserve bank, hostage, because that’d allow them to enter the warehouse somewhat smoothly. Just to ensure that the robbery could not be traced back to Zu Pippo, Toni made the heist look like it was done by members of the Red Brigade. I suppose another reason for painting a straight-up robbery as an act of protest by the Red Brigade was to garner the Tailor’s attention, and, yeah, Toni did find himself sitting beside the Tailor to have a discussion about the memoir.
Vittorio Betrayed Toni
Now, this was where Toni got a bit cocky, because he thought that since he had the memoir as well as the money to leave Italy, he could keep the Tailor at bay and plan out his next steps in a leisurely fashion. However, the Tailor paid Vittorio a visit and threatened to expose all the black money and favors that he had gotten from Toni, thereby ruining his career and his life, unless he revealed the location of Moro’s memoir. If Vittorio did what he was asked, the Tailor promised to use his connections at the Vatican and make him a cardinal one day. Vittorio evidently caved in and gave up the documents to the Tailor, because he clearly prioritized himself and his career over Toni. Meanwhile, the Tailor sent Sansiro to “take care of” Toni, who was shocked to learn that his life insurance policy (the memoir) was gone, just like that. Now, back in the day, Toni had made a passport for Sansiro, and they had bonded over their love for Inter Milan. Toni had told Sansiro that he owed him one, and Sansiro had said that he’d return that favor no matter what happened because he had a habit of not being in anyone’s debt. I assumed that the Tailor had peddled that lie in order to get Toni to rush to the location of the safe that the memoir was kept in, and the Tailor would simply follow him and get his hands on the documents and arrest Toni as well. No, that wasn’t the case at all, because when Toni checked out the safe, the memoir was actually gone, which meant that Vittorio had essentially held the Tailor’s hand and walked him all the way up to the safe. That made it easier for Toni to decide what he had to do.
Toni sacrificed Vittorio
Sansiro had said that he needed to present a body to the Tailor. If Toni told Sansiro to kill Vittorio for betraying him, which’d allow Toni and Donata to leave Italy unscathed, he’d have to bid goodbye to his last friend. If Toni wanted Vittorio to live, because this was just one mistake he had made after living a life of piety (I know, that’s a stretch), Toni would have to plant himself in front of Sansiro’s gun and “take one for the team.”
In The Big Fake’s ending, it was revealed that Toni had chosen to sacrifice Vittorio so that he could live a complete life with Donata and their child. As a final gift, Toni left Vittorio a note, where he implied that he knew about Vittorio’s betrayal, and the keys to a new car, which was a curse rather than a boon, because Sansiro was sitting in there, waiting for Vittorio to arrive. As soon as Vittorio sat there, Sansiro riddled him with bullets. Meanwhile, Toni reached the taxi in which Donata was waiting for him, and they proceeded to leave Italy for good. Toni didn’t explicitly tell Donata why it took so long for him to get to the taxi, but she interpreted his silence as a confession that he had given up Vittorio to Sansiro. Was Toni’s action justified? Well, yeah, kinda. Vittorio would have been nothing without Toni’s help, and when push came to shove, he betrayed him? So, it was fitting for Toni to not be the bigger person and put Vittorio in the line of fire.
Toni’s End Versus Antonio’s End
Sure, we can sit here all day and debate that had Toni not chosen this way of life, all of his friends would have been alive and well. But that’s the thing, right? When Vittorio was benefiting from this life, he didn’t really oppose Toni’s actions. Hence, when Toni was in the trenches, Vittorio should have helped him weather that storm instead of throwing him to the dogs. Since he didn’t, Toni was left with no other option but to sacrifice Vittorio in exchange for a chance at living a happy life with Donata. Did the real version of Toni, whose name was Antonio Chichiarelli, have such a bittersweet ending? Nope. On September 27, 1984, Chichiarelli and his partner at the time, Cristina Cirilli, were shot at. While Chichiarelli died, Cirilli and his son survived. There are many conflicting reports about who the real target was, and whether or not Cirilli was aware of Chichiarelli’s past, but the fact of the matter is that Chichiarelli died at the age of 36 after allegedly being involved in several chapters of Italy’s seedy history. The movie, based on Chichiarelli’s life, is quite evidently a cautionary tale, as it has been released during a time when world politics is in a state of incredible flux, unemployment is at an all-time high, and we’re all willing to deceive one another for a wad of cash or 15 minutes of fame. If Toni and Chichiarelli’s stories inspire someone to do all the wrong things, it’s their funeral. If people are motivated to achieve their dreams through ethical means, though, then that’s a win. At least, that’s what I think. If you have any opinions on the same, feel free to share them in the comments section below.
