GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI

DOCU-DRAMA / A, D, I 2018 / 43 min. & 52 min.

SYNOPSIS
Garibaldi – Womanizer and Freedom Fighter

He was one of the 19th century’s most important revolutionaries, an architect of Italian unity – and a popular ladies’ man: Giuseppe Garibaldi.

The documentary examines the life of the freedom fighter who would become known as the “Hero of Two Worlds”. Before becoming one of Italy’s most adored national public figures, Garibaldi spends many years fighting dictatorships and tyranny in South America. When he returns to Italy he becomes the iconic figurehead of the First Italian War of Independence in 1848. After a failed attempt to defend Rome from the French he is forced to flee to New York, where he becomes a ship’s captain and travels the world. Eventually Victor Emmanuel II, king of Piedmont-Sardinia, names Garibaldi major general of the army fighting the Austrian troops in the Second Italian War of Independence. After the Austrians are defeated, Prime Minister Cavour cedes Garibaldi’s birthplace Nice to the French in return for the military support they had provided. A bitter, disappointed Garibaldi returns to Sicily, where he begins his legendary “Expedition of the Thousand” in 1860. In the course of this campaign, Garibaldi is able to conquer the entire region of southern Italy in preparation for Italian unification. It is the greatest adventure of Garibaldi’s life, and will completely change the face of Italy and the course of history within a few months.

In 1872, Garibaldi retires to the island of Caprera off the coast of Sardinia, where he produces wine and farms. It is his vision of what life in Italy should be: a mixture of simplicity, classlessness and free love. Garibaldi was married three times, but he had numerous affairs throughout his life. Ten years after taking up residence on the island, Garibaldi dies of natural causes in 1882. Despite his continuing political efforts, Garibaldi invariably says that he is a farmer when asked about his occupation.

The film examines the personal life of the charismatic revolutionary and explores his political motivations – and his concept of nationalism, which differed greatly from that of today’s nationalist right-wing populists.