Film Review: Scipio Africanus: The Defeat of Hannibal (Scipione l'Africano, 1937)
Italian military record in Second World War is traditionally a source of ridicule, but a decade earlier it was quite another story. Italians managed to pacify Lybia, conquer Ethiopia, successfully intervene on the side of Nationalists in Spanish Civil War and invade Albania almost without shot being fired. In those times, idea of Italy restoring the Roman Empire, heavily promoted by Mussolini’s Fascist regime, didn’t look completely fantastic. Italian cinema contributed to those propaganda efforts with Scipio Africanus, 1937 historical epic directed by Carmine Gallone (also known with subtitle The Defeat of Hannibal), known as one of the most expensive and ambitious films of its era.
The plot is set during one of the most decisive episodes of ancient Roman history. In late 2nd Century BC Rome is fighting for hegemony over Western Mediterranean with rival city-state of Carthage. In 218 BC, during Second Punic War, Cartaginian general Hannibal (played by Camillo Pillotto) has invaded Italy and revealed himself to be military genius, defeated each army Romans threw against him. The last one of those was annihilated on August 2nd 216 BC in Battle of Cannae, resulting in the most devastating defeat of entire Roman history. Despite such losses, Romans continued with fight with Hannibal who, apparently unable to conquer Rome itself, had to satisfy himself with plundering Italian countryside for next decade. The only glimmer of hope of Romans was brought by Publius Cornelius Scipio (played by Annibale Ninchi), young general who scored series of victories in Carthaginian-controlled Spain. Upon return to Rome, he proposes strategy based on sending army to North Africa to attack Carthaginian mainland and thus force Hannibal to leave Italy in order to protect it. His plan is initially met by scepticism from senators like Cato the Elder (played by Memo Benassi), but he ultimately gets the command of Roman forces in Sicily. When Senate refuse to reinforce and equip his army, ordinary citizens come as volunteers and bring supplies. After landing, Scipio makes alliance with Numidian leader Massinissa (played by Fosco Giachetti) and two of them gradually manage to score series of victories, forcing Carthagian Senate to recall Hannibal back to North Africa. Two generals finally meet during the Battle of Zama, where Scipio hopes to avenge the defeat of Cannae and settle the outcome of war and future of Mediterranean.
Italian cinema has known grandiose production in the past and that included Cabiria, silent film made nearly quarter of century earlier which dealt with almost exactly same subject and even had similar characters. Scipio Africanus was even more grandiose very much thanks to Mussolini, who was quite eager to convince the audience that the Fascist state is not only rightful heir of ancient imperial glory, but also able to repeat its greatest triumphs. Mussolini has appointed his 21-year old son Vittorio to personally supervise Italian film industry and he also make sure that director Carmine Gallone had everything he wanted at his disposal. This included tens of thousands of extras, including large number of soldiers, number of very expensive replicas of ancient galleys and, most importantly, dozens of elephants used in reconstruction of Battle of Zama.
Although the large budget is clearly visible on the screen, inevitable comparisons with Cabiria, even with sound and obvious technological progress taken into account, give advantage to the older films. Comparisons with Hollywood and other countries’ historical epics are even worse for Gallone’s film. The production is, despite large resources, quite shoddy and the scenes don’t look that epic nor exciting, with the possible exception of beginning that take place in Rome and the final battle. Gallone’s work is rough around the edges and he even allowed embarrassing shots of extras wearing modern day watches or telephone poles in the background. The script also isn’t much to write home about. Major historical events are recreated through pompous speeches, occasionally connected with subplots involving ordinary Romans, like Hannibal’s captive Velia (played by Isa Miranda), or soldiers in Scipio’s army. Melodramatic subplot involving Carthaginian princess Sophonisba (played by Francesca Braggiotti) is handled poorly.
The most interesting and the most impressive part of Scipio Africanus is, ironically, the most controversial. Gallone actually worked hard to reconstruct the Battle of Zama according to historic record, which included the role Hannibal’s elephants played in it and the tactics used by Romans against them. In an age before CGI, when thousands of soldiers and dozens of large animals had to be actually brought on screen, this reconstruction represented achievement that won’t be surpassed for many decades and this film represents one of the most accurate depiction of ancient warfare in 20th Century cinema. This accuracy also meant that the animals had to be injured and even killed on set (just as producers of Hollywood epic The Charge of the Light Brigade had to do with horses one year earlier), which makes the final segment of the film hard to stomach even to some less sensitive viewers today. Gallone in those scenes, which features mostly chaotic carnage of both animals and humans, brings reality of war which is, somewhat ironically, at odds with film’s propaganda purposes. Although Scipio Africanus won national film award by Mussolini’s regime, it proved to be not that popular and Mussolini decided to steer Italian cinema industry to more escapist forms of entertainment in form of “white telephone comedies”. Gallone nevertheless continued to make films and in post-WW2 era even returned to the similar themes with his 1960 “peplum” film Carthage in Flames. Battle of Zama was later, much more successfully, recreated in 2006 BBC docudrama Hannibal: Rome’s Worst Nightmare starring Alexander Siddig as Hannibal and Shaun Dingwall as Scipio.
RATING: 5/10 (++)
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