The Commander review – true story of patriotic heroism tries to avoid being political football

The story of an Italian submarine commander who disobeyed orders from fascist leaders and rescued enemy sailors after sinking their ship

Here is a stolid second world war drama, directed by Edoardo de Angelis, taken from a patriotic true story of non-fascist Italian decency during the Battle of the Atlantic; it was made with the cooperation of the Italian navy and promoted to the status of opening gala at last year’s Venice film festival when Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers was withdrawn due to the writers’ strike.

Pierfrancesco Favino plays submarine commander Salvatore Todaro whose forthright courage, combined with a certain poetic sensitivity, inspires fervent loyalty from his men. He is also in continuous agony from a back injury which we see being treated at the film’s beginning; negligent doctors put him into a crude corset, telling him: “Fascism is pain.” (Perhaps so – but pain for other people, surely?) Continue reading...