I believe that Blasetti’s historical epic, 1860, is meant to evoke patriotic sentiments in the audience and draw attention to the duty that every citizen has to the state. I think that although the film is not overtly fascist, that it has a lot of fascist themes and undertones that allow it to be qualified as a fascist film.
I think that the choice of a lowly shepherd from Sicily as the main character suggests that Blasetti wanted to appeal to the everyday man and women. As far as instilling patriotic sentiments, a film where Garibaldi is the main character would have achieved the same results. However, Blasetti chooses Carminiddu, a normal man, to play the protagonist. I believe that the director made this decision because he wanted the main character to be someone that the general audience could relate to. Compared to someone like …show more content…
He refuses to leave the troops and risks his life on several occasions for the sake of liberation and the Italian state. He places his duty to the state over that of his own well-being and his loyalty to his wife. In essence, he is what would be considered the perfect fascist citizen. The same could be said of his wife, who after a lapse of judgement, realizes that she must support her husband’s decision to stay and fight but will not abandon him either.
Another way in which Blasetti may have been alluding to the public’s duty to the state is through the various characters that Carminiddu encounters on his train ride. Each of the characters introduced on the train, have a different opinion on what should become of Italy after unification whether it’s a parliamentary monarch, a democratic republic, a collection of autonomous states, or the Pope as sole ruler. However, the men from the train put aside their political differences to follow Garibaldi into battle. Their loyalty to their leader trumps their own political
I think that the choice of a lowly shepherd from Sicily as the main character suggests that Blasetti wanted to appeal to the everyday man and women. As far as instilling patriotic sentiments, a film where Garibaldi is the main character would have achieved the same results. However, Blasetti chooses Carminiddu, a normal man, to play the protagonist. I believe that the director made this decision because he wanted the main character to be someone that the general audience could relate to. Compared to someone like …show more content…
He refuses to leave the troops and risks his life on several occasions for the sake of liberation and the Italian state. He places his duty to the state over that of his own well-being and his loyalty to his wife. In essence, he is what would be considered the perfect fascist citizen. The same could be said of his wife, who after a lapse of judgement, realizes that she must support her husband’s decision to stay and fight but will not abandon him either.
Another way in which Blasetti may have been alluding to the public’s duty to the state is through the various characters that Carminiddu encounters on his train ride. Each of the characters introduced on the train, have a different opinion on what should become of Italy after unification whether it’s a parliamentary monarch, a democratic republic, a collection of autonomous states, or the Pope as sole ruler. However, the men from the train put aside their political differences to follow Garibaldi into battle. Their loyalty to their leader trumps their own political