‘Comandante’ (The Commander) is a war drama film co-written and directed by Edoardo De Angelis, starring Pierfrancesco Favino. The film is set to open the 80th edition of the Venice Film Festival on September 30th.
Synopsis
During the onset of World War II, Salvatore Todaro assumes command of the Italian Royal Navy submarine Cappellini. While navigating in the Atlantic on a dark October night in 1940, he encounters an unidentified merchant vessel sailing without lights. Employing his cannons, Todaro successfully sinks the ship. In a moment that would later be recorded in history, the Commander makes a crucial decision: he rescues the 26 shipwrecked Belgians who otherwise faced certain death in the vast ocean. Accommodating the survivors aboard his submarine necessitates three days of surface navigation, thereby exposing himself and his crew to enemy forces and placing their lives at risk.
The Director
Edoardo De Angelis is a director, screenwriter, and producer; he was born in Naples in 1978. He debuted with Mozzarella Stories (2011), followed by Perez (2014). He made his reputation with Indivisibili (2016), presented at the Venice International Film Festival’s Giornate degli Autori. His next movies were Il vizio della Speranza (2018), which received the Audience Award at the Rome Film Fest, and three movies for Rai based on works by Eduardo De Filippo, Natale in Casa Cupiello, Non ti pago, and Sabato, Domenica e Lunedì. In 2022, he directed the TV series The Lying Life of Adults, based on the same-titled novel by Elena Ferrante and produced by Fandango for Netflix.
The Cast
Pierfrancesco Favino
Johan Heldenbergh
Silvia D’Amico
Luca Chikovani
Johannes Wirix
Jacques Reclercq
Mario Russo
Lucas Tavernier
Massimiliano Rossi
Giulio Greco
Arianna di Claudio
Giuseppe Brunetti
Gigino Magnifico
Giuseppe Lo Piccolo
Pietro Angelini
Alessandro Bandini
Giustiniano Alpi
Giacomo Bottoni
Olivier Langhendries
Andrea Ferrara