''We Believed'' ( it, Noi credevamo) is a 2010 Italian

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

Mario Martone Mario Martone (born 20 November 1959) is an Italian film director and screenwriter. He has directed more than 30 films since 1985. His film '' L'amore molesto'' was entered into the 1995 Cannes Film Festival. His 2010 film ''Noi credevamo'' c ...

, based on a screenplay by Martone and Giancarlo De Cataldo inspired by events around the 19th-century Young Italy political movement and based on the novel of the late art historian

Anna Banti Anna Banti (born Lucia Lopresti; 27 June 1895 – 2 September 1985) was an Italian writer, art historian, critic, and translator. Life and works Banti was born in Florence. In her youth she spent time in Rome, attending the University of R ...

. Nominated for the

Golden Lion The Golden Lion ( it, Leone d'oro) is the highest prize given to a film at the Venice Film Festival. The prize was introduced in 1949 by the organizing committee and is now regarded as one of the film industry's most prestigious and distinguishe ...

at the

67th Venice International Film Festival The 67th annual Venice International Film Festival held in Venice, Italy, took place from 1 to 11 September 2010. American film director and screenwriter Quentin Tarantino was the head of the Jury. The opening film of the festival was Darren Aro ...

, the film was released in Italy on 12 November 2010.

Plot

The film is divided into four chapters, titled "Le scelte" ("Choices"), "Domenico," "Angelo," and "L'alba della Nazione" ("Dawn of the Nation"). The story follows three boys growing up in the

Cilento Cilento is an Italian geographical region of Campania in the central and southern part of the Province of Salerno and an important Tourism, tourist area of southern Italy. Cilento is known as one of the centers of Mediterranean diet. Geograph ...

Valley in southern Italy in the early 19th century in what was then the

Kingdom of the Two Sicilies The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies ( it, Regno delle Due Sicilie) was a kingdom in Southern Italy from 1816 to 1860. The kingdom was the largest sovereign state by population and size in Italy before Italian unification, comprising Sicily and a ...

. Salvatore, who is all about patriotic spirit, Domenico, who believes in friendship, and Angelo, a restless and violent man. In 1828 all three join Young Italy, a political movement seeking unification if Italy founded by Giuseppe Mazzini. Following this decision, their lives take different paths, tracing some episodes of the historical '' Risorgimento'' period which sought to consolidate various territories on the Italian Peninsula into a single unified state.

Cast

* Luigi Lo Cascio as Domenico * Valerio Binasco as Angelo *

Francesca Inaudi Francesca Inaudi (born 8 December 1977), is an Italian actress. Life and career Born in Siena, at age eighteen Inaudi was selected by Giorgio Strehler to enroll in his acting courses at the Piccolo Teatro in Milan.Giorgio Dell'Arti, Massimo P ...

as Young Cristina of Belgiojoso *

Guido Caprino Guido Caprino (born 3 January 1974) is an Italian stage, film and television actor. Life and career Born in Taormina, Caprino grew up in Nizza di Sicilia and graduated as a dental technician in Messina. He then moved to Milan, where he worked a ...

as Felice Orsini * Renato Carpentieri as Carlo Poerio * Ivan Franěk as Simon Bernard * Andrea Bosca as Young Angelo *

Edoardo Natoli Edoardo is the Italian form of the English male given name Edward. Notable people named Edoardo include: * Edoardo Agnelli (industrialist) (1892–1935), Italian industrialist * Edoardo Alfieri (1913–1998), Italian sculptor * Edoardo Amaldi (19 ...

as Young Domenico * Luigi Pisani as Salvatore *

Stefano Cassetti Stefano is the Italian form of the masculine given name Στέφανος (Stefanos, Stephen). The name is of Greek origin, Στέφανος, meaning a person who made a significant achievement and has been crowned. In Orthodox Christianity the ac ...

as Rudio *

Michele Riondino Michele Riondino (born 14 March 1979) is an Italian actor. Born in Taranto, Riondino enrolled at the Silvio D'Amico National Academy of Dramatic Art, graduating in 2000. In 2006, he acted in ''The Black Arrow'', a TV series broadcast by Canale ...

as Saverio *

Franco Ravera Franco may refer to: Name * Franco (name) * Francisco Franco (1892–1975), Spanish general and dictator of Spain from 1939 to 1975 * Franco Luambo (1938–1989), Congolese musician, the "Grand Maître" Prefix * Franco, a prefix used when ref ...

as Gomez * Andrea Renzi as

Sigismondo Castromediano ''Sigismondo'' is an operatic 'dramma' in two acts by Gioachino Rossini to an Italian libretto by Giuseppe Maria Foppa. The opera was not a success and Rossini later re-used some of its music in ''Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra'', ''The Barber ...

* Edoardo Winspeare as Nisco *

Anna Bonaiuto Anna Bonaiuto (born 28 January 1950) is an Italian actress. She has appeared in 48 films and television shows since 1973. She starred in '' L'amore molesto'', which was entered into the 1995 Cannes Film Festival. Selected filmography Referen ...

as Cristina of Belgiojoso *

Toni Servillo Marco Antonio Servillo (), known as Toni Servillo, is an Italian actor and theatrical director. He has won the European Film Award for Best Actor twice, in 2008 for both '' Gomorrah'' and ''Il Divo'' and in 2013 for ''The Great Beauty'', as well ...

as Giuseppe Mazzini * Luca Zingaretti as

Francesco Crispi Francesco Crispi (4 October 1818 – 11 August 1901) was an Italian patriot and statesman. He was among the main protagonists of the Risorgimento, a close friend and supporter of Giuseppe Mazzini and Giuseppe Garibaldi, and one of the architect ...

Romuald Andrzej Klos Romuald ( la, Romualdus; 951 – traditionally 19 June, c. 1025/27 AD) was the founder of the Camaldolese order and a major figure in the eleventh-century "Renaissance of eremitical asceticism".John Howe, "The Awesome Hermit: The Symbolic ...

as Stanislaw Worcell *

Luca Barbareschi Luca Barbareschi (born 28 July 1956 in Montevideo) is an Italian-Uruguayan actor, television presenter, and former member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies. Barbareschi is Jewish. He was one of four actors whom the Italian police believed ha ...

Antonio Gallenga Antonio Carlo Napoleone Gallenga (1810–1895) was an Italian author and patriot. Life He was born at Parma on November 4, 1810. He was the eldest son of a Piedmontese of good family, who served for ten years in the French army under Mass� ...

Roberto Accornero Roberto Accornero (born 9 March 1957) is an Italian television, film and voice actor. In the several roles he played, there was that of father Angelo Dell'Acqua in the miniseries John XXIII: The Pope of Peace, and that of captain Aloisi in the ...

as Luigi Melegari

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Noi credevamo 2010 films 2010 drama films Italian drama films 2010s Italian-language films Films directed by Mario Martone