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DOCUMENTARY STRATEGIES AND ASPECTS OF REALISM IN ITALIAN COLONIAL CINEMA (1935–1939)

Abstract This article re-evaluates fascist engagement with realism by focusing on documentary and fiction films depicting Italy’s colonial activities in East and North Africa produced during the height of the regime’s drive to present itself as an imperial power. Through an analysis of the cross-fertilization between documentary and fictional forms, it points to realism’s ideological construction and political ramifications. In order to re-establish the pervasiveness of the notion of realism, the article examines the films’ relationship to contemporary debates, paying particular attention to the lasting effect which fascist ideology had in shaping realist cinematic techniques and rhetoric. It reconnects realism to the film practices and experimentation of the time, and, in doing so, emphasizes the strong connections between military models and film culture.