The Fall of Italy

1981 Yugoslavia film

The Fall of Italy

Pad Italije
Directed by| Lordan Zafranović
Written by| Mirko Kovač
Lordan Zafranović
Starring| Daniel Olbrychski
Ena Begović
Frano Lasić
Snežana Savić
Antun Nalis
Gorica Popović
Mirjana Karanović
Miodrag Krivokapić
Dragan Maksimović
Cinematography| Božidar Nikolić
Edited by| Josip Remenar
Music by| Alfi Kabiljo

Production
companies

Jadran Film
Centar Film

Release date

* 1981 (1981)

Running time

| 114 minutes
Country| Yugoslavia
Language| Serbo-Croatian

The Fall of Italy (Serbo-Croatian: Pad Italije) is a 1981 Yugoslav war film by Croatian director Lordan Zafranović.[1]

It won the Big Golden Arena for Best Film at the 1981 Pula Film Festival.[2]

## Plot

[edit]

On a Dalmatian island, the partisan commander Davorin (Daniel Olbrychski) liquidates, according to the party's understanding, an immoral friend and comrade Nika (Frano Lasić) and his lover, Krasna (Snežana Savić), an Italian collaborator. Davorin later marries the beautiful Veronika (Ena Begović), the daughter of a rich local. Owing to Davorin's negligence, the Nazis, Ustashe and Chetniks arrive on the island after Italy capitulates.[3]

The fall of Italy causes armies to mobilise, leads to panic, skirmishes, cruelty and incentifies revenge. The island suffers from said panic and destruction. The commander of a partisan unit, a man dedicated to the cause, falls in love with a girl whose father is a landowner and traitor. From that moment on, he finds it harder to choose between love and freedom, and his resolve becomes weaker. His younger brother, who grew up during the revolution, judges his irresponsible behaviour. This story is followed by a mosaic of other characters and their fates.[4]

## Cast

[edit]

* Daniel Olbrychski as Davorin
* Ena Begović as Veronika
* Gorica Popović as Božica
* Mirjana Karanović as Mare
* Dragan Maksimović as Rafo
* Miodrag Krivokapić as Andro
* Dušan Janićijević as Ljubo
* Ljiljana Krstić as Antica
* Bata Živojinović as Grgo Kusturin
* Frano Lasić as Niko
* Snežana Savić as Krasna
* Igor Hajdarhodžić as Lovre
* Mira Župan as Luce
* Tonko Lonza as Fra Blago
* Miroljub Lešo as Vasilij Denisenko, Circassian
* Antun Nalis as priest
* Ranko Gučevac as Chetnik
* Alenka Rančić
* Zaim Muzaferija

## Awards and honours

[edit]

### Awards

[edit]

* Pula Film Festival, 1981 - Big Golden Arena for Best Film, Golden Arena for Best Director[5]
* Valencia Film Festival, 1982 - Grand Prix (Lordan Zafranović)[1]

### Nominations

[edit]

* Venice Film Festival, 1981 - Golden Lion (Lordan Zafranović)[6]

## Legacy

[edit]

The Yugoslav Film Archive, in accordance with its authorities based on the Law on Cultural Heritage, declared one hundred Serbian feature films (1911–1999) as cultural heritage of great importance on December 28, 2016. The Fall of Italy is also on that list.[7]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b "Baza HR kinematografije". hrfilm.hr (in Croatian). Retrieved 2023-11-08.
2. ^ "28. Festival igranog filma u Puli" (in Croatian). Pula Film Festival. Retrieved 21 May 2010.
3. ^ "Пад Италије (1981)". www.kinoteka.org.rs (in Serbian). Retrieved 2023-11-08.
4. ^ "Pad Italije". filmovi.com (in Serbian). Retrieved 2023-11-08.
5. ^ "PAD ITALIJE" (in Croatian). 2021-02-02. Archived from the original on 2021-02-02. Retrieved 2023-11-08.
6. ^ The Fall of Italy (1981) - Awards - IMDb, retrieved 2023-11-08
7. ^ "Сто српских играних филмова (1911-1999) проглашених за културно добро од великог значаја". www.kinoteka.org.rs (in Serbian). Retrieved 2023-11-08.

## External links

[edit]

* The Fall of Italy at IMDb
* The Fall of Italy at AllMovie
* The Fall of Italy at Filmski-Programi.hr (in Croatian)

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Big Golden Arena for Best Film

As Yugoslav Film Awards
(1957–90)|

* Priests Ćira and Spira (1957)
* H-8 (1958)
* Train Without a Timetable (1959)
* The Ninth Circle (1960)
* Ballad About a Trumpet and a Cloud & The First Fires (1961)
* Kozara (1962)
* Face to Face (1963)
* Official Position (1964)
* Prometheus of the Island & Three (1965)
* Monday or Tuesday (1966)
* I Even Met Happy Gypsies (1967)
* When I Am Dead and Gone (1968)
* Downstream from the Sun (1969)
* Handcuffs (1970)
* Red Wheat (1971)
* The Master and Margaret (1972)
* The Battle of Sutjeska (1973)
* Guns of War (1974)
* The House (1975)
* Idealist (1976)
* Don't Lean Out the Window (1977)
* Occupation in 26 Pictures (1978)
* Trophy (1979)
* Petria's Wreath (1980)
* The Fall of Italy (1981)
* Body Scent (1983)
* Balkan Spy (1984)
* When Father Was Away on Business (1985)
* Happy New Year '49 (1986)
* Reflections (1987)
* My Uncle's Legacy (1988)
* The Meeting Point (1989)
* Silent Gunpowder (1990)

As Croatian Film Awards
(1992–present)|

* Story from Croatia (1992)
* Countess Dora (1993)
* Washed Out (1995)
* How the War Started on My Island (1996)
* Mondo Bobo (1997)
* When the Dead Start Singing (1998)
* Madonna (1999)
* Marshal Tito's Spirit (2000)
* Slow Surrender (2001)
* Fine Dead Girls (2002)
* Here (2003)
* Long Dark Night (2004)
* What Iva Recorded (2005)
* All for Free (2006)
* The Living and the Dead (2007)
* No One's Son (2008)
* Metastases (2009)
* Just Between Us (2010)
* Kotlovina (2011)
* A Letter to My Father (2012)
* A Stranger (2013)
* Number 55 (2014)
* The High Sun (2015)
* On the Other Side (2016)
* A Brief Excursion (2017)
* Mali (2018)
* The Diary of Diana B. (2019)
* Tereza37 (2020)
* A Blue Flower (2021)
* The Staffroom (2022)
* Bigger Than Trauma (2023)

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Films directed by Lordan Zafranović

* Sunday (1969)
* Chronicle of a Crime (1973)
* Passion According to Matthew (1975)
* Occupation in 26 Pictures (1978)
* The Fall of Italy (1981)
* Angel's Bite (1984)
* Evening Bells (1986)
* Aloa: Festivity of the Whores (1988)
* The Decline of the Century: Testament L.Z. (1994)
* Revenge (1995)

Authority control databases

International|

* VIAF

National|

* Spain

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