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Garibaldi – Ladies’ Man and Freedom FighterHe was one of the 19th century’s most important revolutionaries, an architect of Italian unity – and a popular ladies’ man: Giuseppe Garibaldi. The documentary examines the life of the freedom fighter who would become known as the «Hero of Two Worlds». Before becoming one of Italy’s most adored national public figures, Garibaldi spends many years fighting dictatorships and tyranny in South America. When he returns to Italy he becomes the iconic figurehead of the First Italian War of Independence in 1848. After a failed attempt to defend Rome against the French he is forced to flee. During the flight his wife Anita, who came with him from South America died. Was she the heroic fighter woman that he wanted her to be or was she an overstrained mother, weakened by sickness? If so, why did he try to idealize her life?Garibaldi flees to New York, where he becomes a ship’s captain and travels the world. Eventually, after his return to Italy, Victor Emmanuel II, king of Piedmont-Sardinia, names Garibaldi major general of the army fighting the Austrian troops in the Second Italian War of Independence. After the Austrians are defeated, Prime Minister Cavour cedes Garibaldi’s birthplace Nice to the French in return for the military support they had provided. A bitter, disappointed Garibaldi returns to Sicily, where he begins his legendary «Expedition of the Thousand» in 1860. In the course of this campaign, Garibaldi is able to conquer the entire region of southern Italy in preparation for Italian unification. It is the greatest adventure of Garibaldi’s life, and will completely change the face of Italy and the course of history within a few months.But although his campaign was successful, questions arise: How could he win with 1000 poorly-armed volunteers against the 20.000 well-armed soldiers of the Bourbon Army during the expedition of the thousand in Sicily or did he receive help from a foreign power?In 1872, Garibaldi retires to the island of Caprera off the coast of Sardinia, where he produces wine and farms. It is his vision of what life in Italy should be: a mixture of simplicity, classlessness and free love. Garibaldi was married three times, but he had numerous affairs throughout his life. For our film, a profiler will analyse Garibaldi’s psyche regarding women and finds out that he shifted his preferences from amazon-like female warriors to intellectual aristocratic women and finally to 19 years old housemaids who guaranteed him a pleasant sex life, gave him many children and worked for him as nurses when he was old and handicapped. What was the attraction of this 1,60 meter short hero on women? And: If Garibaldi was really a womanizer and macho, why did he support modern women’s rights at the end of his life?Ten years after taking up residence on the island, Garibaldi dies of natural causes in 1882. Despite his continuing political efforts, Garibaldi invariably says that he is a farmer when asked about his occupation.But after all, his political motivation was a united Europe made out of national states. Garibaldi’s nationalism differs greatly from that of today’s nationalist right-wing populists who act more like secessionists. Garibaldi was convinced of a unified Italy, although in his time only 2 % of the population spoke Italian. This makes him still an icon for Republicans and Risorgimento supporters – and a bogeyman for those who believe that the negligence of South Italy started with Garibaldi.Different groups have collected arguments which instrumentalise Garibaldi for their ideas – and myths and fairy tales pop-up again. This documentary draws a clear line from legend to historic truth.
http://www.pretv.at/english/tv-productions/giuseppe-garibaldi/giuseppe-garibaldi.html |