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The African setting is a tribute to the cinematic
tradition, homaging unforgettable movies such as “Lawrence of Arabia”, directed
by David Lean, or “The Wind and the Lion”, directed by John Milius, just to name
a couple. It’s a saga where adventure is the main feature – epic battles,
assaults to caravans, sieges, kidnappings and every conceivable kind of
intrigues. Just as in the great late-XIX century operas, epic is mixed with
hidden private crimes, vengeance, passion, nightmares and ghosts. It’s a mixture
of different elements to try and create not just an entertaining tale, but an
adventure where history and true-life stories can emotionally enthrall, as well
as provoke some thoughts on a recent past that’s still very present. |
It
can seem an absurd that a war can originate from the interpretation of a
Peace Treaty, but that’s exactly what happened between Italy and
Ethiopia. In 1889 in Uccialli (near the Eritrean-Ethiopian border) the
two countries signed a political and commercial agreement. A dispute
about one paragraph of the Treaty generated a harsh confrontation
between Emperor Menelik II’s troops and the Italians. The Italian army’s
catastrophic defeats in Amba Alagi, Macallč and Adwa brought on the
peace treaty. This is the historical context where our adventurous story
takes place. It’s composed of 14 episodes that happen in Rome and
Abyssinia, between 1889 and 1896, with the First Italian Colonial War as
a background.
