| General della Rovere | |
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| Directed by | Roberto Rossellini |
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| Produced by | Moris Ergas |
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| Cinematography | Carlo Carlini |
| Edited by | Cesare Cavagna |
| Music by | Renzo Rossellini |
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General Della Rovere (Italian: Il generale Della Rovere) is a 1959 Italian–French drama film directed by Roberto Rossellini. The film is based on a story by Indro Montanelli which was in turn based on a true story.
Plot
Genoa, 1944, during the era of the Italian Social Republic. Petty thief Emanuele Bardone is hired by the German occupation forces to impersonate an Italian Resistance leader, General Della Rovere, and infiltrate a group of resistance prisoners in a Milan prison. Gradually, Bardone loses himself in his role and not merely pretends to be a hero of the resistance but actually becomes one, first encouraging his fellow prisoners to show courage and eventually accepting death by firing squad rather than betraying another imprisoned resistance leader.
Cast
- Vittorio De Sica: Vittorio Emanuele Bardone/Grimaldi
- Hannes Messemer: SS Colonel Müller
- Vittorio Caprioli: Aristide Banchelli
- Sandra Milo: Olga
- Giovanna Ralli: Valeria
- Maria Greco: Madama Vera
- Herbert Fischer: German sergeant
- Anne Vernon: Clara Fassio
- Franco Interlenghi: Antonio Pasquali
- Ivo Garrani: Partisan Chief
- Linda Veras: German Attendant
Cultural influences
The transformation of Emmanuele Bardone, the film's protagonist, from an Axis collaborator into a hero of the anti-national socialist resistance, has been compared by Spanish political commentators to the life story of Adolfo Suárez, the Spanish prime minister who oversaw the transition to democracy in the late 1970s. In particular, Javier Cercas devotes the last chapter of The Anatomy of a Moment to exploring the parallels between Bardone and Suarez.
Awards
References
- Forgacs, David; Lutton, Sarah; Nowell-Smith, Geoffrey (2008). Roberto Rossellini: Magician of the Real. British Film Institute. ISBN 9780851707945.
- "Indro Montanelli: Il generale Della Rovere. Introduzione di Geno Pampaloni". Biblioteca Teresa Gullace (in Italian). Retrieved 10 September 2023.
- Cercas, Javier (2011). The Anatomy of a Moment: Thirty-five Minutes in History and Imagination. New York: Bloomsbury. pp. 310–314. ISBN 978-1-60819-491-9.
- Bondanella, Peter (1993). The Films of Roberto Rossellini. Cambridge University Press. p. 24. ISBN 9780521398664.
External links
| Films directed by Roberto Rossellini | |
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- 1959 films
- 1950s war drama films
- Italian war drama films
- 1950s Italian-language films
- 1950s German-language films
- French black-and-white films
- Italian Campaign of World War II films
- Films about Italian resistance movement
- World War II films based on actual events
- Films based on Italian novels
- Golden Lion winners
- Films directed by Roberto Rossellini
- Films set in Genoa
- Films set in 1944
- 1959 drama films
- Films scored by Renzo Rossellini
- French World War II films
- Italian World War II films
- 1950s Italian films
- 1950s French films
- 1950s multilingual films
- French multilingual films
- Italian multilingual films
- French-language Italian films
- Italian-language French films
- 1950s Italian film stubs
- War drama film stubs