Please wait...
Please wait...
Please wait...
Home > Screenings > Albatross World Sales > Garibaldi - Freedom Fighter and Womanizer

Director: Martin Betz

Producer: preTV,Berlin Producers

Executive Producer: Nikolaus Wisiak,Stefan Pannen

Writer: Martin Betz

Cast: Carlo Olivazzi,Roberta Procida,Isabelle Tabachi

Genres: Documentary, Factual

Demographics: All audiences

People: Berlin Producers, Carlo Olivazzi, Isabelle Tabachi, Martin Betz, Nikolaus Wisiak, preTV, Roberta Procida, Stefan Pannen


52’

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

With the help of his descendants, collectors and historians, the film investigates the man who went from guerrilla fighter and adventurer to national hero. He was a man who lived a life of exaggerated pathos, yet implemented tangible political measures; a man loved by the people despite his orders to open fire on farmers; a committed democrat who lived out his life in a Marxist utopia on Caprera but served the Italian king. Throughout his life, Garibaldi proclaimed his great love for his first wife Ana Ribeiro da Silva, commonly known as Anita, yet remained a serial womaniser. Despite the many contradictions Garibaldi embodied, he nevertheless enjoyed the adoration and respect of the people during his lifetime and beyond. Perhaps it is precisely these contradictions that contribute to the legendary status enjoyed by people like Garibaldi.

The film visits the most significant sites of his revolutionary activities, including Brazil, Uruguay and Italy, but returns repeatedly to the small island of Caprera at the northern point of Sardinia.

Interviews with collectors, historians and Garibaldi's descendants serve to bring the legendary freedom fighter into the present and place his life in a political and social context. Despite the wealth of material concerning Garibaldi's life, there is still much to be discovered, whether it is in the private collections of his great-great-grandchildren or of people who still idolise the Italian hero.

The documentary sets its sights on uncovering the emotional life of a historic personality using modern storytelling methods, including dynamic camerawork, rapid editing and brief statements from the interviewees.