Lion of the Desert (1981) HD - Anthony Quinn as Omar Mukhtar
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Plot In 1929, Italian Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini (Rod Steiger) is still faced with the 20-year-long war waged by patriots in the Italian colony of Libya to combat Italian colonization and the establishment of "The Fourth Shore"—the rebirth of a Roman Empire in Africa. Mussolini appoints General Rodolfo Graziani (Oliver Reed) as his sixth governor to Libya, confident that the eminently accredited soldier and fascist Grande can crush the rebellion and restore the dissipated glories of Imperial Rome. Omar Mukhtar (Anthony Quinn) leads the resistance to the fascists. A teacher by profession, guerrilla by obligation, Mukhtar had committed himself to a war that cannot be won in his own lifetime. Graziani controls Libya with the might of the Regio Esercito (Italian Royal Army). Tanks and aircraft are used in the desert for the first time. The Italians also committed atrocities: the killing of prisoners of war, destruction of crops, and imprisoning populations in concentration camps behind barbed wire. Cast Anthony Quinn as Omar Mukhtar Oliver Reed as General Graziani Irene Papas as Mabrouka Raf Vallone as Diodiece Rod Steiger as Mussolini Sir John Gielgud as El Gariani Andrew Keir as Salem Gastone Moschin as Tomelli Stefano Patrizi as Sandrini Adolfo Lastretti as Sarsani Sky du Mont as Prince Amedeo, Duke of Aosta Takis Emmanuel as Bu-Matari Rodolfo Bigotti as Ismail Robert Brown as Al Fadeel Eleonora Stathopoulou as Ali's Mother Luciano Bartoli as Captain Lontano Claudio Goro as Court President Giordano Falzoni as Judge at Camp Franco Fantasia as Graziani's Aide Ihab Werfaly as Ali Music The musical score of Lion of the Desert was composed and conducted by Maurice Jarre, and it was performed by the London Symphony Orchestra. Soundtrack Track Listing for the First Release on LP SIDE One Omar the Teacher / Italian Invasion / Resistance / The Lion of the Desert (19:12) SIDE Two The Displacement / The Concentration Camp / The Death/March of Freedom (19:33) Track Listing for the First Release on CD Omar the Teacher (04:26) Prelude: Libya 1929 (02:24) The Execution of Hamid (05:04) Desert Ambush (01:46) Omar Enters Camp (04:15) The Empty Saddle (01:49) March to Demination (05:19) Ismail's Sacrifice (02:36) I Must Go (02:27) Graziani's Triumph (01:41) Entr'acte (02:19) Concentration Camp (03:15) Italian Invasion (01:32) Starvation (00:53) The Hanging (01:27) General Graziani (03:00) Charge (01:23) Phoney Triumph (04:38) Omar's Wife (03:22) Omar Taken (02:38) The Death of Omar (01:38) March of Freedom (With Choir) (03:59) Censorship in Italy The Italian authorities had banned the film in 1982 because, in the words of Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti, it was "damaging to the honor of the army".[4] The last act of the government's intervention against the film was on April 7, 1987, in Trento; afterward, MPs from Democrazia Proletaria asked Parliament to show the movie at the Chamber of Deputies.[4] The movie was finally broadcast on television in Italy by Sky Italy on June 11, 2009, during the official visit to Italy of Libya's then leader Muammar Gaddafi.

If you aren’t faint of heart or afflicted with battle fatigue, see this film as soon as possible, if you have not done so already. Not only is this an invaluable resource for getting a good idea of how the Fascists suppressed Libyans, but (with the arguable exception of the length) this is also a rare example of a film that does everything right: the story, dialogue, acting, music, pacing, cinematography, and other technical aspects are all more than satisfactory. There is not one aspect of this film that feels inadequate, unless you count the viewership.

Events that happened today (August 20):

1940: The Eighth Route Army launched the Hundred Regiments Offensive, a successful campaign to disrupt Axis war infrastructure and logistics in occupied northern China. (Coincidentally, Prime Minister Winston Churchill made the fourth of his famous wartime speeches, containing the line ‘Never was so much owed by so many to so few’.)
1942: István Horthy de Nagybánya, Axis Deputy Regent, died in a flight accident.
1943: The Axis submarine U‐197 was sunk in the Indian Ocean by a PBY Catalina of № 265 Squadron RAF; on the same day, the Axis submarine U‐670 sank in the Bay of Danzig after a collision with the target ship Bulkoburg. Meanwhile, the Empire of Japan and the Kingdom of Thailand signed a peace treaty, in which four provinces of Axis‐occupied British Malaya (Kedah, Perlis, Kelantan and Trengganu) were to be made part of Thailand. Thai administration would begin on October 18. Finally, Soviet Major General P. V. Bogdanov, who had collaborated with the enemy after being captured by the Wehrmacht, was recaptured and turned over to the Soviet counterintelligence service, SMERSH. Moscow would execute Bogdanov, along with five other former Red Army generals, on April 19, 1950.
1944: One hundred sixty‐eight captured Allied airmen, including Phil Lamason, accused by the Gestapo of being ‘terror fliers’, arrived at Buchenwald concentration camp. Meanwhile, the Battle of Romania began with a major Soviet Union offensive.
1985: Wilhelm Meendsen‐Bohlken, Axis fleet commander, expired.

  • afellowkid@lemmygrad.mlEnglish
    2·
    1 year ago

    I started watching this a while back due to your recommendation, haven’t finished yet, but it’s been an interesting film so far.

    I also found this article somewhat recently, it gives an overview of Italy’s settler-colonial project in Libya: Genocide, Historical Amnesia and Italian Settler Colonialism in Libya—An Interview with Ali Abdullatif Ahmida

    In the late 1920s, the Italian fascist regime implemented a campaign of ethnic cleansing in eastern Libya to create more land for Italian settlers and quell armed resistance to colonization. Ali Abdullatif Ahmida’s new book, Genocide in Libya: Shar, a Hidden Colonial History, examines this forgotten case of settler-colonial violence and the processes that led to the forced relocation of over 100,000 Libyans to special camps, resulting in the deaths of tens of thousands.

    Italy looked at Libya as the “fourth shore,” an extension of Italy like the French treated Algeria—the same mentality. It was a shorter period of colonization (1911–1943) but very brutal. The dream was designed by the so-called liberal colonial state in 1911. The goal was to settle between 500,000 and 1 million Italians, especially the landless peasants from southern and central Italy. They were supposed to be settled mainly in eastern Libya, in the fertile Green Mountain area. The Italian settlers also thought that they would be welcomed by the local population, assuming the Libyans had resented Ottoman rule (1551–1911). That was a big miscalculation. The Libyan resistance to Italian occupation continued for a long time. When the fascists under Benito Mussolini arrived in 1922, they came with an even more vicious, more brutal plan—they decided to clear the land of Indigenous people. […] The settlers believed that since Libya had been part of the Roman Empire they were simply reclaiming it so they could have a place of their own. The idea of reviving Roman Africa was a very integral part of the propaganda to justify colonization.