Main Cast: Anthony Quinn, Oliver Reed, Rod Steiger, John Gielgud, Irene Papas
Release Year: 1981
Country: LY/US
Run Time: 162 minutes
Plot
Libyan leader Moummar Quaddafi financed this desert epic about a Libyan hero who helped his nation fend off an Italian invasion in 1929. Anthony Quinn stars as Omar Mukhtar, who organizes Libyan forces to hold off the encroaching Italian troops under General Rodolfo Graziana (Oliver Reed), who are trying to gain a foothold on Libyan soil under direct orders from the Italian dictator Mussolini (Rod Steiger). With the persistence of Mukhtar, the Libyans, battling the tanks and guns of the Italian army with their Bedouin troops on horseback, managed to hold off y the Italians for twenty years, until Mukhtar was finally captured and executed. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
Raf Vallone - Diodiece; Gastone Moschin - Maj. Tomelli; Takis Emmanuel - Bu-Matari; Stefano Patrizi - Lt. Sandrini; Robert Brown - Al-Fadeel; Eleonora Stathopoulou - Ali's Mother; Andrew Keir - Salem; Rodolfo Bigotti - Ismail; Gianfranco Barra - Sentry; Lino Capolicchio; Luciano Catenacci; Sky Dumont - Prince Amadeo; Mario Feliciani - Lobitto; Claudio Gora - President of Court; Adolfo Lastretti - Col. Sarsani; Alec Mango; Ewen Solon; George Sweeney - Capt. Biagi; Pietro Tordi - Field Marshal; Franco Fantasia - Gen. Graziani's Aide; Mark Colleano - Infantry Corporal; Victor Baring
Credit
Maurice Cain - Art Director, Giorgio Desideri - Art Director, Bob Bell - Art Director, Roy Stevens - Associate Producer, Carlos Gil - First Assistant Director, Miguel Gil - First Assistant Director, Moustapha Akkad - Director, Glenn Randall - Second Unit Director, John Shirley - Editor, Maurice Jarre - Composer (Music Score), Sidney Cain - Production Designer, Mario Garbuglia - Production Designer, Syd Cain - Production Designer, Jack Hildyard - Cinematographer, Moustapha Akkad - Producer, Kit West - Special Effects, Norman Bolland - Sound/Sound Designer, Jim Willis - Sound/Sound Designer, Glenn Randall - Stunts Coordinator, H.A.L. Craig - Screenwriter
Omar Mukhtar (Anthony Quinn) leads the resistance to the fascists. A teacher by profession, guerilla by obligation, Mukhtar has committed himself to a war that cannot be won in his own lifetime. Graziani controls North Africa with the might of the Italian Army. Tanks and airplanes are used in the desert for the first time. The Italians committed also atrocities like killing of prisoners, destruction of crops and hamletting populations under the barb wire.
Despite their bravery, the Libyan Arabs and Berbers suffered heavy losses, their primitive weaponry no match for mechanised warfare; despite all this, they continued the fight, and managed to keep the Italians from achieving complete victory for 20 years. Graziani was only able to achieve victory through deceit, deception, violation of the laws of war and human rights and by the use of tanks and aircraft.
Although Mukhtar and his fellow warriors used primitive weaponry, Graziani admitted and witnessed his adversary's skill in waging guerilla warfare. In one scene, Mukhtar refuses to kill a defenseless young officer, instead giving him the Italian flag to return with. Mukhtar says that Islam forbids him to kill captured soldiers and demands that he only fight for his homeland, and that Muslims are taught to hate war itself.
Censorship in Italy
Italian authorities banned the film in 1982, claiming that it was "damaging to the Italian Army's honour"[2]. The last act of the government intervention against the film was on April 7, 1987, in Trento; afterward, MPs from Democrazia Proletaria asked Parliament to show the movies at the Chamber of Deputies.[2] The movie has been finally broadcasted on television by Sky Italy on June 11 2009, during the official visit in Italy of Libya's leader Muammar al-Gaddafi.
