Michał Waszyński’s Italian-Polish films on the Second World War
What is it about?
In the article I examine a case study of feature films produced by Polish Army stationed in Italy after the Second World War. By examining different contexts of those films (political and propaganda agenda behind those films, historical plausibility of the narrative, censorship in Italy, distribution mechanisms limiting their visibility in Italy, as well as their entanglement in the early cold war tensions and international diplomacy), I aim at analysing the post war Italian film culture though the lens of politics and international diplomacy at the very beginning of the cold war.
Why is it important?
My case study contradicts cliches according to which the early cold war film culture in Italy is usually described. The studies usually focus on the anticommunism of the cold war culture, red scare, fear mongering. However, the films I discuss, aiming at denouncing the Soviet regime and the unjust situation of Poland in the wake of the Second World War, by no means were given the visibility (state censorship, limitation imposed by the distribution, and harsh criticism). The examination those film on the backdrop of a broader political context shows the impact of a philosovietic mode of Italian diplomacy and film culture, questioning the opposite phenomenon of anticommunism and antisovietism in early cold war Italy.