Lion of the Desert (film)
Date: 1981
Region: Europe, Africa
Subject: Political/Economic/Social Opinion, Racial/Ethnic
Medium: Film Video
Artist: Moustapha Akkad
Confronting Bodies: Italian undersecretary to the Foreign Affair Department; Italian Commission on film censorship
Dates of Action: 1981; 1982; in the 1987 a screening was stopped by Digos (a special investigating division of government police) in Trento (North of Italy); in 1988 the only official screening occurred at the Riminicinema festival
Location: Trento, Rimini, Italia
Description of Artwork: Between two worlds wars, a struggle for freedom took place in the African desert. This movie is the historically accurate story about the Libyan resistance leader, Omar Mukhtar, who led the Libyan resistance against the Italian oppressors from 1911-1931. The movie takes place during the fascist dictatorship of Mussolini.
The Incident: "The Movie is unwelcome in Italy" said Raffaele Costa, Italian undersecretary to the Foreign Affair Department, in 1981; in 1982 Giulio Andreotti (Italian politician) banned the movie: the Italian government considering the movie insulting to the italian army's honor
Results of Incident: the movie was banned in Italy, no screenings allowed
Source: Release Info IMDB, [1], [2]