Underplayed Gems

Bengasi (1942)

Bengasi poster
Directed by
Augusto Genina
Genre
drama film, war film
Country
Italy
Runtime
1h 30m
Rating
5.4 of 10 from 8 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

This film is set in Benghazi during World War II and shows the Italian experience of the Allied occupation. It follows events like a local peasant being killed by Australian soldiers.

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What happens

Bengasi is a 1942 Italian war film directed by Augusto Genina and starring Fosco Giachetti, Maria von Tasnady and Amedeo Nazzari. The film was shot at Cinecittà in Rome. The film was a propaganda work, designed to support the Fascist regime of Benito Mussolini. It portrays Allied atrocities in Benghazi in Italian Libya, such as the murder of a peasant by a group of drunken Australian soldiers. It was presented at the Venice Film Festival and won the Mussolini Cup as the best Italian film while Fosco Giachetti won the best actor award. It proved popular with audiences, and was re-released in 1955 with some new scenes added. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

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