Comandante has been in cinemas since yesterday, Tuesday 31 October. Edoardo De Angelis’ film on the true story of Commander Salvatore Todaro has Pierfrancesco Favino as its protagonist. Also in the cast are Massimiliano Rossi, Johan Heldenbergh and with Silvia D’Amico.
Commander has been in cinemas since yesterday, Tuesday 31 October. The film of Edoardo De Angelis with protagonist Pierfrancesco Favino sees in cast also Massimiliano Rossi, Johan Heldenbergh and with Silvia D’Amico. The screenplay is written by Sandro Veronesi and Edoardo De Angelis, from which the novel of the same name published by Bompiani is based. The music is composed by Robert Del Naja.
The film, presented as opening film in competition at the 80th Venice International Film Festival, an Indigo production is Film, O’Groove with Rai Cinema, Tramp LTD, VGroove, Wise Pictures in association with Beside Production, in collaboration with Paramount+ and is produced by Pierpaolo Verga, Nicola Giuliano, Attilio De Razza, Edoardo De Angelis, Francesca Cima , Carlotta Calori, Viola Prestieri in association with Mariagiovanna De Angelis and Antonio Miyakawa, in collaboration with Marina Militare, Cinecittà. Distributed in Italy by 01 Distribution.
The plot of Commander and the true story of Salvatore Todaro
At the beginning of the Second World War Salvatore Todaro commanded the submarine Cappellini of the Royal Navy. In October 1940, while sailing in the Atlantic, in the darkness of the night the silhouette of a merchant ship traveling with its lights off looms, the Kabalo, which later turns out to be of Belgian nationality and loaded with English war material, which suddenly opens the fire against the submarine and the Italian crew. A brief but violent battle breaks out in which Todaro sinks the merchant ship with cannon fire. And it is at this point that the Commander makes a decision destined to make history: to save the 26 Belgian castaways condemned to drown in the middle of the ocean and disembark them in the nearest safe port, as required by the law of the sea. To welcome them on board he is forced to sail on the surface for three days, making himself visible to enemy forces and putting his life and that of his men at risk. When the captain of the Kabalo, disembarking in the bay of Santa Maria in the Azores, asks him why he exposed himself to such a risk by contravening the directives of his own command, Salvatore Todaro responds with the words that made him a legend: “Because we are Italians”.
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