| Bengasi | |
| Director: | Augusto Genina |
| Producer: | Carlo Bassoli Renato Bassoli |
| Music: | Antonio Veretti |
| Studio: | Film Bassoli |
| Runtime: | 90 minutes |
| Country: | Italy |
| Language: | Italian |
Bengasi is a 1942 Italian war film directed by Augusto Genina and starring Fosco Giachetti, Maria von Tasnady and Amedeo Nazzari.[1] The film was shot at Cinecittà in Rome. The film was a propaganda work,[2] designed to support the Fascist regime of Benito Mussolini. It portrays Allied atrocities in "Bengasi Italiana",[3] such as the murder of a peasant by a group of drunken Australian soldiers.[4]
It was presented at the Venice Film Festival and won the Mussolini Cup as the best Italian film while Fosco Giachetti won the best actor award. It proved popular with audiences, and was re-released in 1955 with some new scenes added.[4]
The film is set in 1941 during the Second World War, when the city of Benghazi in Italian-ruled Libya was occupied by British forces. Italian inhabitants of Benghazi work to resist the British and discover their military plans. One man, Filippo Colleoni, appears to be collaborating with the British but is in fact working undercover for Italian intelligence. The film ends with the city being recaptured by Italian troops and their Nazi German allies.