General Della Rovere

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 dates	September 1959 (VIFF); 7 October 1959;
Running time	138 minutes
Countries	Italy; France;
Languages	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
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

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 at 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.

[1]

v t Films directed by Roberto Rossellini
1930's	La Vispa Teresa (1939)
1940's	The White Ship (1941) A Pilot Returns (1942) The Man with a Cross (1943) Rome, Open City (1945) Desire (1946) Paisan (1946) L'Amore (1948) Germany, Year Zero (1948)
1950's	Stromboli (1950) The Flowers of St. Francis (1950) The Seven Deadly Sins (segment: "Envie, L'Envy") (1952) The Machine to Kill Bad People (1952) Europe '51 (1952) We, the Women (segment: "Ingrid Bergman") (1953) Mid-Century Loves (segment: "Napoli 1943") (1954) Where Is Freedom? (1954) Journey to Italy (1954) Fear (1954) Giovanna d'Arco al rogo (1954) India: Matri Bhumi (1959) General Della Rovere (1959)
1960's	Escape by Night (1960) Garibaldi (1961) Vanina Vanini (1961) Anima nera (1962) Ro.Go.Pa.G. (segment: "Illibatezza") (1963) The Taking of Power by Louis XIV (1966)
1970's	Socrates (1971) (1971) (1972) L'età di Cosimo de' Medici (1973) (1973) Anno uno (1974) The Messiah (1975)

v t Venice Film Festival Golden Lion
1946–1968	The Southerner (1946) The Strike (1947) Hamlet (1948) Manon (1949) Justice Is Done (1950) Rashomon (1951) Forbidden Games (1952) Romeo and Juliet (1954) Ordet (1955) Aparajito (1957) Rickshaw Man (1958) General Della Rovere (1959) The Great War (1959) Tomorrow Is My Turn (1960) Last Year at Marienbad (1961) Family Diary (1962) Ivan's Childhood (1962) Hands over the City (1963) Red Desert (1964) Sandra (1965) The Battle of Algiers (1966) Belle de Jour (1967) Artists Under the Big Top: Perplexed (1968)
1980–2000	Atlantic City (1980) Gloria (1980) Marianne and Juliane (1981) The State of Things (1982) First Name: Carmen (1983) A Year of the Quiet Sun (1984) Vagabond (1985) The Green Ray (1986) Au revoir les enfants (1987) The Legend of the Holy Drinker (1988) A City of Sadness (1989) Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (1990) Close to Eden (1991) The Story of Qiu Ju (1992) Short Cuts (1993) Three Colours: Blue (1993) Before the Rain (1994) Vive L'Amour (1994) Cyclo (1995) Michael Collins (1996) Hana-bi (1997) The Way We Laughed (1998) Not One Less (1999) The Circle (2000)
2001–present	Monsoon Wedding (2001) The Magdalene Sisters (2002) The Return (2003) Vera Drake (2004) Brokeback Mountain (2005) Still Life (2006) Lust, Caution (2007) The Wrestler (2008) Lebanon (2009) Somewhere (2010) Faust (2011) Pietà (2012) Sacro GRA (2013) A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence (2014) From Afar (2015) The Woman Who Left (2016) The Shape of Water (2017) Roma (2018) Joker (2019) Nomadland (2020) Happening (2021)