Documentary Production Post-WWII: Vision and Concealment

Chronological and Aesthetic Distinctions

  • The production of documentaries related to the Resistance requires chronological and aesthetic distinctions.
  • Ansano Giannarelli's essay, "Visioni filmiche della Resistenza," divides Resistance-themed films into periods:
    • 1945-1947
    • 1948-1958
    • 1959-1968
  • This analysis focuses on 1945-1955: A decade documenting the shift from revolutionary fervor to political restoration and the suppression of recent experiences.

Types of Resistance Documentaries

  • A wide range of works are considered Resistance documentaries, including:
    • Extemporaneous footage for immediate testimony and long-term propaganda.
    • Linguistically structured documentaries, some with directorial aspirations.
    • Works on the deportation of Italian Jews (e.g., Giannarelli's "Roma, 16 ottobre 1943").
    • Stories of individual heroism.
    • Early resistance movements and their later developments.
  • This analysis focuses on linguistically structured works by film professionals that deal with the phases of the national liberation war, excluding amateur and extemporaneous works as well as related but not fully integrated themes.

Two Main Approaches: Reconstruction and Evocation

  • Documentaries on the Resistance mainly follow two approaches: Reconstruction and Evocation.
  • Reconstruction:
    • Used when film footage of the event is unavailable.
    • The director reconstructs the event using documents or testimonies.
    • This negates the principle of temporal simultaneity, a key feature of documentary cinema.
    • Giannarelli categorizes reconstruction as primarily fiction, but the speaker argues it's prevalent in documentary as well.
    • Reconstruction is considered an a posteriori evocation.
  • Evocation:
    • Uses archive footage to bring images of the past into the present.
    • Aims to create a phantasmic, evocative charge.
    • François Niney: "Nel momento in cui appaiono sullo schermo, è perchè ormai sono scomparsi" (When they appear on the screen, it is because they have now disappeared).
  • Resistance documentaries use these approaches to testify and find traces of past disappointment in the images of the past.

1945-1947: The Propaganda Phase

  • From 1945-1947, the primary goal of filmmakers was propaganda.
  • Imagery was aimed at convincing the central government that the partisan force was crucial in the liberation and that the role of the Allies should be diminished in favor of leftist forces like the Communist Party.
  • Cinema was used strategically, as Lenin proposed.
  • Examples: "Aldo dice 26X1" and "Giorni di gloria".
  • These works are politically charged but technically uncertain and lack resources.

Aldo dice 26X1

  • Directed by Fernando Cerchio and Carlo Borghesio.
  • Roberto de Chòmon (son of Lumière operator Segundo de Chòmon) was an operator.
  • The title refers to the code phrase used by partisans to signal the start of the anti-Nazi-fascist insurrection.
  • The 45-minute documentary covers the liberation of Turin, battles in the countryside, the arrival of partisans, a speech by Franco Antonicelli, and funerals of war victims.
  • The film opens with a man buying "La gazzetta del popolo" from October 28, 1944, which covers the preparations for the March on Rome.
  • It shows bombed houses, weeping women, the impact of the Fascist era, and martyred corpses.
  • An anonymous voice-over and martial music accompany the visuals, resembling Fascist rhetoric.
  • The film includes images of partisans, preparations for reprisals, and organizational phases, some real and some realistically reconstructed.
  • Nedo Ivaldi: "Aldo dice 26 x 1, un documentario di Fernando Cerchio dedicato alla Resistenza e alla Liberazione in Piemonte, è costituito essenzialmente di riprese compiute durante gli ultimi giorni di lotta e i primi giorni di libertà. Il film si avvale largamente di ricostruzioni di episodi di vita partigiana, ad esempio attacchi contro gruppi di fascisti, che però, al di là dell'evidente finzione, di autentico hanno pur sempre gli interpreti, e poi le divise che indossano e i gesti che compiono."
  • Newspaper front pages mark the stages of a descent into hell, documented by mass media, with a self-referential link between print media and newsreels, like the former ratifying the latter.
  • The film realistically reconstructs the daily life of partisans and the gestures of the protagonists.
  • Images from "Aldo dice 26x1" (e.g., partisans marching in the snow led by a priest) were later reused in other documentaries (like "Giorni di gloria") and feature films, becoming public domain imagery of the Resistance.
  • The film was made over a year and includes heterogeneous materials: footage by Cerchio in Turin (popular demonstrations in May 1945), footage from various operators between 1944 and 1945 in Valle d’Aosta and Piedmont, and footage from the Republic of Salò and Luce newsreels, blending truth and reconstruction.
  • Gianfranco Casadio: "Il film, che rievoca nel titolo il messaggio inviato da “Radio Londra” per la liberazione di Torino, accomuna materiali autentici relativi ai giorni della liberazione a ricostruzioni fumate di azioni partigiane interpretate dagli stessi uomini che le avevano compiute, con le stesse divise e armi e negli stessi luoghi dove si erano svolte. Al di là della modestia del lavoro, il film è un notevole documento storico che ci mostra, con informazioni di prima mano, la vita delle bande in montagna nei giorni della lotta contro il nazi-fascismo."
  • The film evokes the imagery of the American Western, portraying the partisan as incorruptible, adapted to wild life, and uncompromising.
  • Cerchio's career ended with a spaghetti western, "Per un dollaro di gloria" (1966).

Giorni di gloria

  • Directed by Luchino Visconti, Marcello Pagliero, Mario Serandrei, and Giuseppe De Santis.
  • The film expresses nihilistic rage, with hopes veiled by anger due to their non-fulfillment.
  • It represents the closest point between documentary and neorealist cinema.
  • The partisan war was then depicted in subject cinema, with authentic faces and an air of revolution.
  • Guido Guerrasio: "Titolo impreciso, materia proveniente dagli operatori alleati. Interesse documentario elevato, da archiviare come documento puro, senza commenti. Utile a tutti, e particolarmente significativo per i qualunquisti."
  • Its impact was limited due to censorship by the Allies, who didn't want to attribute a major role in the liberation to the partisans.
  • Produced by Fulvio Ricci with the patronage of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers.
  • Footage was shot by various operators (resulting in stylistic diversity).
  • The commentary was written by Umberto Barbaro and Umberto Calosso (the voice of Radio London).
  • Mario Serandrei gave coherence to heterogeneous material.
  • Marcello Paglierò: Filmed the discovery of the 335 bodies at the Fosse Ardeatine.
  • Luchino Visconti: Covered the Caruso trial, the lynching of Carretta (director of the Regina Coeli prison in Rome), and the executions of Caruso and Pietro Koch. Visconti used eight cameras to film the Caruso trial, creating a moving sequence.
  • De Santis: Directed reconstructions of partisan guerrilla actions.
  • Serandrei: Incorporated archive footage from the PWB (Psychological Warfare Branch).
  • The most graphic parts the Caruso trial and Carretta lynchings were cut because they showed the crowd's blind rage rather than liberation.
  • Gianni Rondolino: "Non è che la realtà diventi spettacolo, né che la finzione assuma il carattere della realtà: ma la cronaca del processo e la rappresentazione della condanna e dell’esecuzione diventano sullo schermo immagini e suoni di una realtà che si dilata sino ad assumere significati non contingenti."
  • The desire for vengeance outweighed the desire to inform and honor partisan courage.
  • The film doesn't mention the Allies, suggesting the liberation was solely by partisan effort.
  • The film blends a mature awareness of the medium with the narrative and rhetorical forms of Fascism, showing the difficulty of marking a difference when ideologies are still at play.
  • Neorealism would later reflect on these contradictions.

Unacknowledged Aspects and Omissions

  • The films lack iconic representation of women partisans, despite their presence and documentation.
  • The war of liberation is portrayed as a male affair, with women shown only in emotional states.
  • The complexity of viewpoints and the variety of forces involved are suppressed for strategic purposes.

La nostra guerra

  • Mario Serandrei also edited "La nostra guerra" by Alberto Lattuada, commissioned by the Ministry of Defense and produced by the Film Section of the Army General Staff.
  • The film documents the events of September 8, 1943, and the actions of the CLN, as well as the contribution of civilians to the liberation of the homeland, but without giving them a leading role.
  • "La nostra guerra" also mixes reality and fiction to reinforce certain passages and fill in gaps.

Other Titles of Interest (1945-46)

  • Other films from 1945-46 include:
    • "Da Dongo a Villa Belmonte" by Paolo Massi (1945).
    • "Fascisti alla sbarra" by Vittorio Ugolini (1945).
    • "L’Italia s’è desta" by Domenico Paolella (1946).
    • "L’Italia ha scelto la Repubblica" by Ettore Margadonna (1946).
    • "L’abbazia eroica" by Ugo Fasano (1946).
  • However, focusing on these titles would not add significantly to the analysis of Cerchio's work and "Giorni di gloria."

1946-1958: The Evocation Phase

  • The period between 1946 and 1958 is characterized by evocation, where anger and enthusiasm give way to disconsolate reflection.
  • Works from this time include:
    • "San Miniato. Luglio 1944" (1954) by the Taviani brothers.
    • "I sette contadini" (1958) by Nelo Risi.
    • "Lettere di condannati a morte della resistenza italiana" (1952) by Fausto Fornari.

Lettere di condannati a morte della resistenza italiana

  • Fausto Fornari's "Lettere di condannati a morte della resistenza italiana" (1952) is considered a masterpiece.
  • In 1952, Einaudi published Giovanni Pirelli and Pietro Malvezzi's collection of letters, "Lettere di condannati a morte della Resistenza italiana", revealing the human impact of the Italian Resistance and the bond of partisans with their families.
  • The book's success led Fausto Fornari to create his debut film, but Initially, the project faced skepticism until Cesare Zavattini joined the credits to lend credibility.
  • Fornari self-financed the documentary.
  • Zavattini's contribution was limited to final approval of the footage and editing.
  • The film faced distribution difficulties due to the Resistance being a sensitive topic.
  • In twelve minutes, the documentary reconstructs the stories of seven partisans (six men and one woman), mixing locations of life and death to integrate death into life.
  • The tone is narrative rather than didactic.
  • A voice-over with regional inflections reads the letters.
  • Fornari primarily uses contemporary images, except for the prologue's opening frames.
  • The film closes with a subjective shot through prison cells and Turin's deserted streets, mirroring a prisoner being led to execution. The sound of machine guns is heard, and a quote from a 19-year-old prisoner's letter appears: “No, non dite di essere scoraggiati, di non volerne più sapere. Pensate che tutto è successo perché non ne avete voluto più sapere” (No, don't say you're discouraged, that you don't want to know anymore. Think that everything happened because you didn't want to know anymore).
  • This message caused the documentary to be unreleased for almost 40 years. The moment of its disclosure may not have fully arrived.