Il partigiano Johnny, internationally released as Johnny the Partisan, is a 2000 Italian war drama film set in the Second World War and directed by Guido Chiesa. It is based on the novel of the same name by Beppe Fenoglio.
The film entered the competition at the 57th Venice International Film Festival, in which it won the Children and Cinema Award.
Contents
Plot
Johnny, a university student with a passion for English literature, deserts the Italian Army in Rome after the September 1943 Badoglio Proclamation, and returns home to Alba. He initially takes refuge in a villa in the hills, where he devotes himself to his studies. After the death of a friend, he decides to fight in the war again. He leaves the city and joins the first partisan formation he meets, the "Reds", led by Biondo. He doesn't share their communist ideology, only their desire to fight the Fascists.
Left alone after the group has dispersed under a German attack, he manages to reach a formation of the Badogliani, also called "Blues", or "Autonomous", led by the charismatic North Commander (Piero Balbo, nicknamed Nord). This group is in contact with the Anglo-American allies, who are better equipped and organized. Among them, he meets his dear friend Ettore, and together they participate in the temporary, symbolic occupation of Alba.
Multiple small clashes decimate and disperse their forces, and Ettore is captured and sentenced to death. Johnny finds himself facing the hard winter of 1944 alone again. In the spring, Nord gathers the men and resumes guerrilla activities. The film ends on a still shot of Johnny engaged in combat, perhaps overwhelmed by enemies, followed by the words "Two months later, the war was over".
Cast
Stefano Dionisi as Johnny
Fabrizio Gifuni as Ettore
Andrea Prodan as Pierre
Alberto Gimignani as Biondo
Claudio Amendola as Nord
Giuseppe Cederna as Nemega
Umberto Orsini as Pinin
Chiara Muti as Elda
Lina Bernardi as Johnny's mother
Toni Bertorelli as Johnny's father
Felice Andreasi as miller
Barbara Lerici as Sonia
Flavio Bonacci as Pietro Chiodi
Antonio Petrocelli as Leonardo Cocito
Lucio Zagaria as Dario Scaglione
Fabio De Luigi as Fascist deserter
Giovanni Esposito as southern partisan
Flavio Insinna as spy
Sergio Trojano as Ivan
Andrea Bruschi as Set