Roberto Rossellini was one of the godfathers of Italian neorealism, but in the 1960s he directed a series of historical films that explored key events in Italian and world history, combining documentary realism with political rumination. Viva L’Italia (1961) was his first, a drama about Giuseppe Garibaldi and his military campaign to aid the uprisings in Sicily and Naples against the Bourbon king in 1860. Renzo Ricci stars as Garibaldi, leader of a revolutionary movement to unify the disparate states of the Italian people under the constitutional monarch Victor Emmanuel II. Garibaldi is portrayed as a driven and courageous general as well as a committed humanist as he leads his loyal thousand volunteers against the superior numbers of the Bourbon forces. Ricci plays the character with a paternal warmth and contemplative seriousness. The film was commissioned by the Italian government to celebrate the centenary of Italian unification and Rossellini uses his budget to present grand scenes of warfare, but it is as much history lesson as drama, with loads of dialogue featuring background on the politics and historical backdrop of the events onscreen. Rossellini’s intention was to direct it as a "documentary made after the fact" and he claimed that he was more proud of this film than any other he made. Bowing on DVD and Blu-ray in a newly restored edition, extras include a shorter English-dubbed version originally created for American release, an interview with Rossellini’s assistant Ruggero Deodato, and a video essay by Rossellini scholar Tag Gallagher. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)
Viva L’Italia
Arrow, 129 min., in Italian w/English subtitles, not rated, DVD: $24.99, Blu-ray: $34.99 Volume 33, Issue 3
Viva L’Italia
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