1860 (film)

"1860" is an Italian film directed by Alessandro Blasetti and released in 1934. The movie presages Italian neorealism in that it was shot wholly on location. Also, most contemporaneous historical epics used a star to focus on grand historical characters, as stated by Richard Pena of the Film Society of Lincoln Center at the beginning of the film. This film focuses on a character whom nobody knows or ever will know, a patriot riding to get the assistance of Giuseppe Garibaldi. This film, in its heralding of neorealism, illustrates how the average man plays a part in grand histories. The film also uses non-actors, a key element of Italian neorealism, and a rarity for its time and era.

Cast

Though the film includes many non-actors, Gianfranco Giachetti (brother of Fosco Giachetti), Maria Denis, Mario Ferrari, and it was the last film of Ugo Gracci. A list of the non-actors includes Giuseppe Gulino, Aida Bellia, and many others.

Plot

The story is the harried attempt of a Sicilian partisan, as part of the risorgimento, to reach Garibaldi's headquarters in Northern Italy, and to petition the revered revolutionary to rescue part of his besieged land. Along the way, the peasant hero encounters many colorful Italians, differing in class and age, and holding political opinions of every type. There is a key train scene, and the film ends on the battlefield, Italian unification a success, despite brutal losses.

Scholarly and other interpretation

Gabriella Romani, in an Italica article from 2002 (Part of the JSTOR arts and sciences complex), writes thatcertainly the film drew upon the soviet films of Sergei Eisenstein and the Macchiaioli painters, but just as important may be the "Risorgimento female iconography produced by nineteenth-century patriotic painters and writers." [Gabriella Romani, "Italica", Vol. 79, No. 3 (Autumn, 2002), pp. 391-404]

Notes

External links