Javier Bardem Compares Netanyahu to Hitler in Rome
The Spanish actor received a lifetime achievement award from Paolo Sorrentino at the Rome Film Festival, and his speech named Mussolini, Franco and Israel's prime minister.
Javier Bardem (57) received a lifetime achievement award at the 21st Rome Film Festival on Saturday, October 17. In his speech he also mentioned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Director Paolo Sorrentino presented the award in the Sinopoli Hall of the Auditorium Parco della Musica Ennio Morricone. The festival’s artistic director Paola Malanga and the president of the Cinema per Roma Foundation, Salvatore Nastasi, attended the ceremony.
“We are all very happy and honored to give this award to such a wonderful actor,” Sorrentino said as he handed it over.
What did Bardem say about Netanyahu?
Bardem spoke about civic responsibility and the danger of handing power to people who oppose human rights. In that part of the speech he named Mussolini, Franco, Hitler and Netanyahu.
“Another Mussolini can appear just the same if we abandon our civic responsibilities and give power to those who are absolutely opposed to fundamental human rights. That goes for Franco too, that is Hitler, and that is Netanyahu, they are the same,” Bardem said in his speech.
The statement in this form, in Serbian translation, was reported by Nova.rs and Klix.ba. Italy’s Sky TG24 writes only that the actor warned of the risk of handing power to leaders who oppose human rights, without naming anyone. For that reason, the quote here follows the translation as those outlets published it.
Bardem also backed the youth protests that have spread from Spain to France and Italy.
“The protests of those young people are proof of their vitality and their desire for hope. We adults must stand with them, with our presence, both personally and professionally,” he said.
Rome, Fellini and the cinema
Before the ceremony he signed autographs on the red carpet and posed for photos with fans. After the photos he took a seat among the audience.
He named Fellini’s “8½” as his favorite Italian film, one he watches again every year. He singled out “The Great Beauty” as one of the films that has marked him most. He also joked about his “terrible Italian.”
He spoke about the cinema as a place where people meet.
“Cinema is important because it offers us a way to connect with each other even more strongly. We feel as if we are in touch, but in fact we are far apart. We build bunkers around ourselves and lose contact with others. You sit in a dark room with your friends, but also with your enemies, and you live an emotional experience and a journey, rather than just watching. That is a wonderful thing,” Bardem said.
He ended the speech with his thoughts on awards, after a career in which he has worked with the Coen brothers, Woody Allen, Sam Mendes and Denis Villeneuve.
“I believe awards should be received, appreciated, celebrated and then forgotten. That way we can keep moving forward, keep growing and, above all, live up to the place you give me. I hope I will keep living up to it with my future work,” he concluded.
Which film accompanied the award?
The presentation was held alongside a screening of “El ser querido” (The Loved One), directed by Rodrigo Sorogoyen. The film was shown earlier at Cannes and is in the Best of 2026 section in Rome.
Bardem plays the famous Spanish director Esteban Martinez, whose life has been marked by violence and excess. After years spent outside Spain, he returns to work in his home country and gives the lead role in his new film to his daughter Emilia, with whom he has long been on bad terms. Emilia is played by Victoria Luengo.
Bardem was born in 1969 in Las Palmas on Gran Canaria. He won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in 2008 for playing Anton Chigurh in the Coen brothers’ “No Country for Old Men.”
