Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Am I Missing Something?

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Excellent Film (the English 'dubbed' version) as I recall, in the Los Angeles / Southern California, region it was last shown on TV on KTLA (Channel 5) late night back in early 1980's. It is almost on par with Director David Leans' 'Lawrence of Arabia' and director Sergey Bondarchuk 'Waterloo' (Rod Steiger) as majestic Battlefield films capturing regalia, nationalistic unity, interwoven story lines, and excellent cinematography. To own a copy is a prize possession. That Director Vicente Minnelli was married to a US Entertainment icon did not deter him from paying tribute to his homeland (Italy) through this masterful film.

"I don't want to teach. I only want to look." - Roberto Rossellini Of all the films he directed, Roberto Rossellini regarded "Viva l'Italia!" as his favourite, an idiosyncratic epic which stars Renzo Ricci as Giuseppe Garibaldi, the famed revolutionary who liberated southern Italy and played a large part in "il Risorgimento", the political/social movement which saw different "states" within the Italian peninsula coalesce into the single Republic of Italy (see Visconti's "The Leopard").The film anticipates Rossellini's later biographies, Garibaldi's anti-clericism, distrust of the Papacy (ironic, considering the way history virtually deified him) and Republicanism echoing the heroes of Rossellini's "King Louis", "Pascal" and "Descartes". Unique amongst Rossellini's filmography, though, are the film's battle sequences, which possess the kind of scope you don't typically associate with the director. In this regard, much of "Viva l'Italia!" observes from a distance as Garibaldi's forces struggle to conquer the kingdom of the Two Sicilies, his army of volunteer red shirts landing in Marsala and proceeding to very systematically overthrow King Francis II. Other battles follow, but for the most part Rossellini's camera adopts a detached, cosmic tone, wandering about war-torn landscapes while battalions of men, tiny and ant-like, collide or jostle for position. These sequences are grand and painterly – a moving, roving painting, Rossellini's camera capturing the sheer size of the campaign and the sheer simultaneity of many events – but the film ultimately amounts to an inferior version of Miklos Jancso's "The Red and the White", another epic which finds a curious, disembodied camera eavesdropping on clashing armies. Of course Rossellini's thematic intentions are completely different to Jancso's (while Jancso detests all conflict, Rossellini adores Garibaldi, sees his victory as fated and ends his film triumphantly with an Italian flag), but the aesthetic intentions are nevertheless very similar."I am only a man," Garibaldi says throughout the film, but Rossellini is clearly aiming for hagiography. His Garibaldi is a god, a hero, and the film never goes beyond the level of popular myth, a stance which Rossellini explains away by stating that he is "more interested in the artifacts of history" - i.e. Garibaldi's image as it exists today – than "actual history". So remaining unsaid is why Garibaldi's invasion takes place, the socioeconomic reasons for his exhibition, why his staff objected to peasant participation and the political roles of other figures like the count of Cavour (a leading figure in the move to Unification) and Giuseppe Mazzini. The film remains trapped at the level of folk-myth, a problem which Rossellini's later films attempted to rectify.8/10 – Worth one viewing.

It is hard to understand why it is so difficult to view the films of one of the most important directors of Italian cinema and the world. Federico Fellini, Luchino Visconti and Vittorio De Sica's works are all, fortunately, mostly available. Rossellini "the father of us all" as Martin Scorsese once said, is sadly a legend whose works are vastly unavailable. Legal or copyright reasons should not hamper a persons work, especially one of vast importance to the cinema. Isabella Rossellini said "My dad's films are fading away…My father is slowly being forgotten." However when one experiences a Rossellini picture it is hard to imagine that statement. A viewing of Germany Year Zero will make one remember Rossellini for life, along with a list of other Rossellini masterpieces; Open City, Paisan, Stromboli, Voyage in Italy and many more. I have been fortunate enough to view a great deal of uncut and unavailable Rossellini works at the Cinematheque Ontario in Toronto. Being part of a 20 something generation I can gladly say that Rossellini's films are to another generation just as powerful as they were when they first came out. With Viva L'Italia! Rossellini has created a film that ranks with such classics as Visconti's The Leopard, or even perhaps a war film such as Patton, which may have been influenced by this film. The story is about the Italian hero Giuseppe Garibaldi, who perhaps is not well known throughout North America, but we get an education while watching this film. Although some Italian critics may not have been optimistic about Rossellini's portrayal of Garibaldi, it still evokes interest in the viewer to find out who Giuseppe Garibaldi was and what he did. One of the great beauties of this work is the long sweeping camera shots of the clashing armies. On the big screen it is imperative. This picture is akin to Lawrence of Arabia where it really makes you appreciate cinema on the big screen. There are camera shots setup from high in the mountains looking down on the battle plains below of Garibaldi's advancing armies into a town. You can barely see the men, they are like ants; it is magnificent to look at. With his Neorealistic skills, Rossellini excellently captures the action on the streets of Garibaldi's army fighting the Bourbons. The movie ends on an unusual note, but it evokes such an interest on Garibaldi to the viewer. We are fortunate to have the cinema as an art and a tool of examining and telling stories of our history. It is upsetting to realize that a great work such as this one is extremely difficult for viewing. Martin Scorsese has expressed his concern for Italian Cinema and made the great documentary; My Voyage to Italy. He says, "History remains something that's handed down, something that happens between people. In fact I learnt that by watching these movies, so the best way I have to keep film history alive is to try and share my own enthusiasm, my own experience...Usually people get excited about a movie by hearing about it from somebody else, so I'm simply trying to tell you I saw these movies I didn't read about them or learn about them in school, and they had a powerful effect on me and you should see them."And along with all of Rossellini's films, you should see this one.