General Della Rovere

General della Rovere
General della Rovere
Directed by	Roberto Rossellini
Written by	Sergio Amidei; Diego Fabbri; Indro Montanelli;
Produced by	Moris Ergas
Starring	Vittorio De Sica; Hannes Messemer;
Cinematography	Carlo Carlini
Edited by	Cesare Cavagna
Music by	Renzo Rossellini
Production; companies	Zebra Film; Société Nouvelle des Etablissements Gaumont;
Release dates	31 August 1959 (Venice International Film Festival); 7 October 1959 (Italy);
Running time	137 minutes (premiere); 132 minutes (theatrical);
Countries	Italy; France;
Languages	Italian; German; Hebrew;

General Della Rovere (Italian: Il generale Della Rovere) is a 1959 Italian–French drama film directed by Roberto Rossellini.^[1] The film is based on a story by Indro Montanelli which was in turn based on a true story.^[2]

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^[3] to exploring the parallels between Bardone and Suarez.

Awards

Golden Lion at the 1959 Venice International Film Festival^[4]

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.