The hunchback of Rome

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
German title The hunchback of Rome
Original title Il Gobbo di Roma
Country of production Italy , France
original language Italian
Publishing year 1960
length 103 minutes
Age rating FSK 18
Rod
Director Carlo Lizzani
script Tommaso Chiaretti
Carlo Lizzani
Luciano Vincenzoni
Ugo Pirro
production Dino De Laurentiis
for Columbia Pictures
music Piero Piccioni
camera Aldo Tonti
Leonida Barboni
Giuseppe Aquari
cut Franco Fraticelli
occupation

The Hunchback of Rome (original title Italy: Il Gobbo di Roma , alternatively Il Gobbo , original title France: Le bossu de Rome ) is an Italian-French co-production of a film drama from 1960 by Carlo Lizzani . The eponymous "hunchback" is played by Gérard Blain , the woman who becomes his fate is played by Anna Maria Ferrero . Bernard Blier , Ivo Garrani and Pier Paolo Pasolini can be seen in leading roles .

action

A young Italian, the hunchbacked Alvaro, joined the anti-fascist partisans in 1944 , and soon became their leader in the fight against the fascists . The acts of sabotage against the German occupiers are a thorn in their side as they cannot get hold of the men. One of them, however, has a characteristic that makes it distinctive, a hump. So Alvaro becomes the most wanted man for the Germans. They are supported in this by the fascist police chief of Rome, a colloborateur who does everything possible to catch Alvaro. Together with two of his cronies, the hunchback takes Ninetta, the man's daughter, under his control and rapes her. Afterwards he is suddenly sorry and he forbids his companions to lay hands on Ninetta, which anger them deeply.

Only a little later Alvaro succeeds in breaking into a German weapons depot and taking weapons and ammunition. During his retreat, however, he is wounded by a bullet from a guard, whereupon he escapes to Ninetta in her parents' house. The young woman hides it in the attic. Ninetta's father, who almost discovered the uninvited guest, was murdered on the street some time later. The hunchback as the leader of the resistance fighters shot the collaborator in retaliation for his brutal behavior towards the anti-fascist freedom fighters operating underground.

However, the fascists were able to take Alvaro into their power shortly afterwards and tortured him to get the names of his accomplices out of him. However, the hunchback is stubbornly silent. After only a short imprisonment, he succeeds in outsmarting his tormentors and escaping in an almost suicidal manner.

Only a few months later, the defeat of the Axis powers became apparent and the city was initially under the American occupation forces. Much is now reversed. Ninetta is thrown out of the villa by her father's former political opponents and is suddenly destitute and homeless. All those who worshiped fascism at the time are now among the losers. It doesn’t take long until the young Italian has lost all hold and sells her body mainly to American soldiers. Alvaro would like to help Ninetta, but all his advice and attempts to that extent bounce off the girl. This is all the worse for him as he now really loves the young woman he once violated.

And again, Alvaro’s fiery temper becomes fatal. When he did not comply with the Americans' request to surrender his weapons because the weapons of the people of Rome had been confiscated and an American soldier tried to force him to surrender, he shot him. However, this is only the beginning, because now there is no stopping it. The hunchback does not shy away from killing during his raids, which he carries out with the gang he has brought into being. He justifies this by saying that he is doing something good, since he gives a large part of his booty to the poor and needy in Rome's suburbs. The noose around his neck is slowly tightening, however, and the police are pulling the net around Alvaro and his gang ever tighter. With a large-scale raid the time has come. With Ninetta's support, the hunchback manages to escape arrest again by fleeing, but only a short time later the couple is surrounded by the police and not only Alvaro but also Ninetta is fatally hit in an exchange of fire.

production

background

The film is loosely based on the life story of Giuseppe Albano (1926–1945), who actually worked with others in the Roman resistance against the German occupiers. The men succeeded in various acts of sabotage. Albano suffered from kyphosis . Early on he was known for his courage, which was also confirmed in his partisan activities. During this time he was their defender and a kind of avenger for the weak. Albano was killed on January 16, 1945 after a shooting with the police.

publication

The film premiered in Italy on December 1, 1960. It was seen in Japan in September 1961, in Sweden, Denmark and Mexico in 1962, and in the United States in August 1963. In Spain (Madrid) it was published in May 1970. It also ran in Brazil, Finland, France, Greece and Turkey.

In the Federal Republic of Germany it was published on June 22, 1961 under the title Der Bucklige von Rom ; the international title is The Hunchback of Rome .

criticism

The lexicon of international film judged: "A weekly, at times gaudily staged film, which as a socio-critical view of the time is only able to interest in parts, since it slips into the tearing and romantic."

The Austrian Film Museum praised: “Carlo Lizzani at his best: Communist-neorealist reappraisal of history as a pre-code Warner Bros. social riot, with Gérard Blain in his furious, most desperate performance and a great Pier Paolo Pasolini as partisan, who is crippled by torture , because of all the disgusting life is only good for loading. "

Die Zeit found that the name chosen in the press booklet of the distributor, that the protagonist of this film was “a typical rebel character”, was correct. Even if director Carlo Lizzani does not want to admit that, unfortunately it is still true. "Not the story of a strong-willed and conscious resistance fighter and revolutionary, who turns into an unsettled revolutionary and gangster because of apparently insoluble private conflicts and disappointed political hopes, [is] told here." Even if Lizzani might have had this topic in mind, it was "given away." in favor of the equally tough and indistinct story of a young man who, in the fight against the fascists before 1945 as well as in the blind rebellion against the American liberators of 1945, only sees the possibility of proving himself, the hunchback, as a whole man and as a To highlight misunderstood do-gooders. ”In conclusion, it was said that the viewer of the film was left behind“ as untrained ”as“ as the hunchback was at the beginning of the film ”.

Awards (selection)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Il gobbo (Der Bucklige von Rom) (1960) adS filmmuseum.at, accessed on May 21, 2017.
  2. ↑ The hunchback of Rome. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  3. ↑ Der Bucklige von Rom In: Die Zeit , July 14, 1961, zeit.de, accessed on May 21, 2017.