Cinema Italian Style: The War Machine
November 10, 2024
The formidable Pierfrancesco Favino delivers a powerhouse performance in gripping maritime thriller The War Machine, set in the beginning of the Second World War.
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The formidable Pierfrancesco Favino delivers a powerhouse performance in gripping maritime thriller The War Machine. Directed and co-written by Edoardo de Angelis with a tense score co-written by Massive Attack’s Robert Del Naja and based on incredible true events, it follows Salvatore Todaro (Favino) who commands the Italian Royal Navy submarine Cappellini in October 1940. While navigating in the Atlantic Ocean one dark night, the Cappellini comes upon an armed merchant ship sailing with lights out. The ship suddenly opens fire on the submarine and its Italian crew, and a brief but violent battle ensues. Then Todaro makes a selfless decision that contravenes orders and makes history. Soon forced to navigate on the surface of the water, visible to the enemy, the submariners' lives are put at risk in this epic test of courage. Featuring authentically rendered set design, that included the full reconstruction of a real submarine, The War Machine delivers a tense and exciting story of wartime humanity on the high seas.
- Original Language Title: Comandante
- Director: Edoardo de Angelis
- Principal Cast: Pierfrancesco Favino, Massimiliano Rossi, Johan Heldenbergh, Arturo Muselli, Giuseppe Brunetti
- Country: Italy, Belgium
- Year: 2023
- Running Time: 120 min.
- Producer: Edoardo De Angelis, Attilio de Razza, Nicola Giuliano, Pierpaolo Verga
- Screenplay: Sandro Veronesi, Edoardo De Angelis
- Cinematographers: Ferran Paredes Rubio
- Editors: Lorenzo Peluso
- Music: Robert Del Naja
- Filmography: The Vice of Hope (2018), Indivisible (2016), Perez (2014)
- Language: Italian, Flemish
- US Distributor: Dark Star Pictures
- International Sales: True Colours Glorious Films