General Della Rovere

General della Rovere
Directed by	Roberto Rossellini
Written by	Sergio Amidei; Diego Fabbri; Indro Montanelli;
Starring	Vittorio De Sica; Hannes Messemer;
Release date	September 1959 (VIFF); 7 October 1959;
Running time	138 minutes
Country	Italy; France;
Language	Italian; German; Hebrew;

General della Rovere (Italian: Il generale della Rovere) is a 1959 Italian film directed by Roberto Rossellini. The film is based on a novel 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 Emmanuele Bardone (played by Vittorio De Sica) is hired by the Third Reich 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 Col. Müller
Vittorio Caprioli: Aristide Banchelli
Giovanna Ralli: Valeria
Sandra Milo: Olga
Maria Greco: Madama Vera
Herbert Fischer: German sergeant
Anne Vernon: Clara Fassio
Franco Interlenghi: Antonio Pasquali
Ivo Garrani: Partisan Chief
Linda Veras: German Attendant

Awards

The film won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.

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[1] to exploring the parallels between Bardone and Suarez.

References

Cercas, Javier (2011). The Anatomy of a Moment: Thirty-five Minutes in History and Imagination (1st U.S. ed.). New York: Bloomsbury. pp. 310–314. ISBN 978-1-60819-491-9.

External links

General Della Rovere on IMDb
General Della Rovere at AllMovie

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[1] Cercas, Javier (2011). The Anatomy of a Moment: Thirty-five Minutes in History and Imagination (1st U.S. ed.). New York: Bloomsbury. pp. 310–314. ISBN 978-1-60819-491-9.