General Della Rovere



General della Rovere (Il generale Della Rovere) is a 1959 Italian film directed by Roberto Rossellini. The film is based on a novel by Indro Montanelli which was in turn based on a true story.

Plot
The film tells the story of a petty thief Emmanuele Bardone (played by Vittorio De Sica) who is hired by the Nazis to impersonate an Italian resistance leader, General della Rovere, and infiltrate a group of resistance prisoners in a Milan prison. Gradually, Bardone loses himself in his role and not merely pretends to be a hero of the resistance but actually becomes one, first encouraging his fellow prisoners to show courage and eventually accepting death by firing squad rather than betraying another imprisoned resistance leader.

Cast

 * Vittorio De Sica: Vittorio Emanuele Bardone/Grimaldi
 * Hannes Messemer: SS Col. Müller
 * Vittorio Caprioli: Aristide Banchelli
 * Giovanna Ralli: Valeria
 * Sandra Milo: Olga
 * Maria Greco: Madama Vera
 * Herbert Fischer: German sergeant
 * Anne Vernon: Clara Fassio
 * Franco Interlenghi: Antonio Pasquali
 * Ivo Garrani: Partisan Chief
 * Linda Veras: German Attendant

Awards
The film won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.

Cultural influences
The transformation of Emmanuele Bardone, the film's protagonist, from a Nazi collaborator into a hero of the anti-Nazi resistance, has been compared by Spanish political commentators to the life story of Adolfo Suárez, the Spanish prime minister who oversaw the dismantling of the Franco regime in the late 1970s. In particular, Javier Cercas devotes the last chapter of The Anatomy of a Moment to exploring the parallels between Bardone and Suarez.