Bengasi

The film was made in 1942 in Mussolini's Italy during World War II, ostensibly as a propaganda movie. It deals with the fall of Bengasi (Italian spelling of Benghazi) to the British, and the later recapture of the Libyan city by the Italians (and Germans). The film won the Mussolini Prize at the Venice International Exhibition of Cinematographic Arts of 1942. Good acting and very good musical score. What is surprising is the anti-war undercurrent of the film. Nazi censors would have never certified such a movie for German audiences. Maimed soldiers, dead children, broken homes -- the high human cost for waging war is not kept from the audience (even the British are portrayed as fairly ordinary people!). Amedeo Nazzari is probably the only actor one might recognize, since he went on to have a distinguished career after the war, although here he seems to play his part without much conviction. The rest of the cast does well, and the film portrays a side of the war that is seldom seen outside Europe. Not for everyone, but certainly worth having a look if you're interested in the events of that era, even though it is propaganda.