I left out the crucial period of the RISORGIMENTO, in the middle of the 1800s, when Italy became unified as a political, independent entity for the first time in its history.

The Risorgimento did contribute enormously to the definition of a collective identity. However, this was nothing compared to the first was Italy fought as a nation against a foreign enemy.

For the longest time, approximately 1400 years, Italians fought each other, and foreign powers took advantage of internal divisions and rivalry, to control large portions of Italian soil. France, Austria and Spain meddled in the internal affairs of a galaxy of little states, choosing allies based on their own interests of territorial control and exploitation of resources.

In the 1800s, with the growth of the ideology of nationalism and self-determination, the rejection of aristocratic power and the development of ideals of equality and liberty (see French Revolution 1789), Italians imposed a political agenda that had the unification of the country at its core.

Eventually with more internal wars and shrewd political and diplomatic alliances, one of those regional states launched an offensive that culminated in the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, in 1861 when the south was annexed to the rest of the country. The full and complete unification was achieved in 1870 when was conquered militarily and papal state was stripped of all its remaining territories.

As a famous politician, philosopher and writer -- Massimo D'Azeglio said on that occasion, "Italy is made, now we have to make the Italians." Italy was politically united but in terms of cultures, histories, traditions, economic systems, languages, the Italian people was still a work in progress.

In 1915, the King, son of the king who had unified Italy, decided against all advise that a national war would accelerate the process of integration of Italians, and the would create a true Italian people. The cost was staggering: 600,000 casualties and a return on investment that was much lower than anybody expected.

Yet,  because of the extreme suffering, the defeats, the desolation and desperation of the war, WWI did become a myth, the foundational myth of the modern Italian people.

The subtext of the film you will screen this week is the cultural conflicts between two Italians, a heavily stereotyped soldier from Rome and another, similarly stereotyped, drifter from Milan. I will leave it to you to sort out the final message of the film. One more word to point you in the right direction; in the Western culture, Italians are systematically ridiculed for lacking a military culture. The Italian army is the butt of endless jokes, Italian military hierarchy are regarded as incompetent, lazy and arrogant; and finally Italian soldiers are considered inferior, cowardly, with no sense of honor and courage (and willing traitors too.)

This is not a heavy, dark and brooding film. It is a bitter sweet comedy, of the kind that Hollywood would definitely never imagine making.