Italian cinema and world politics during the Cold War

The years of following the WWII witnessed the strengthening of the socialist and communist parties in Italy as a reaction to years of right-wing dictatorship. Many of the film directors who had worked under Mussolini’s patronage freed themselves from the shackles of the Fascist regime and sought for new forms of artistic expression. The emergence of the USA and USSR as the new world’s superpowers had, in the meantime, caused the polarization of the public opinion in Italy, as in the rest of the globe. Even if the US had, indeed, played an important role in the destruction of the fascist regimes in Europe, the world did not forget the contradictions of American society. Racism, gender discrimination, and the exploitation of workers victims of American capitalism were themes heatedly debated in Europe. Some Italian film directors turned to the newly reborn genre of Western Movies to express their political views. What had been called by American film critics “Spaghetti Westerns” (Italian made Western cinema), turned into the “Zapata Western” – a highly politicized form of cinema. Behind the mask of “entertainment”, these movies criticized American values, addressed gender-related issues both in Italy and in the western world, and denounced the unfairness of the capitalist system.

Do you think that the religious, political, and economic issues that Italy was facing are somehow addressed in this classic Western movie? Explain what these issues were and how cinema intervened in the political debate of the Cold War era.