Cinema
1860
Alessandro Blasetti · 1934
Synopsis
Sicily, spring 1860. Withdrawn into the island's mountains, insurgents besieged by the Bourbon troops are waiting for Garibaldi. One of them, Carmeliddu, a young peasant, leaves his fiancée Gesuzza and sets out for the mainland to urge him to come. On his way to Genoa, he meets Italians of every condition and every opinion, while the expedition of the Thousand is being prepared.
Context
Produced by Emilio Cecchi for Cines, the film was announced under the title “Garibaldi” during shooting. The screenplay is by Blasetti, Emilio Cecchi and Gino Mazzucchi, based on a story by the latter. Shot on the very sites of the story, with non-professional performers, it is regarded as a forerunner of neorealism. It also linked the Risorgimento to the Fascist regime; in 1951, the director made a new version, with a different ending, under the title “I Mille di Garibaldi”.
Who it is for
A short film, of about one hour twenty, in black and white, spoken partly in Sicilian dialect.
Prizes and reception
Praised for telling the Garibaldian epic at human scale, through an anonymous peasant rather than through the heroes.
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