Emilio Lussu
Writing
Biography
Emilio Lussu (4 December 1890 – 5 March 1975) was a Sardinian and Italian writer, anti-fascist intellectual, military officer, partisan, and politician. He is also the author of the novel One Year on the High Plateau. Lussu was elected multiple times to Parliament, serving as a member of the Constituent Assembly of Italy for the constituency of Cagliari and twice as a minister. He founded the Sardinian Action Party and co-founded the Justice and Freedom movement. As an anti-fascist, he was assaulted, wounded, and sent to confinement to Lipari in the Aeolian Islands by the Italian fascist regime as a direct decision of Benito Mussolini. After escaping, with Carlo Rosselli and Fausto Nitti, he spent about fourteen years as a refugee abroad. He served as an officer in World War I, where he received multiple decorations, and participated in the Spanish Civil War as a political leader and in the Italian Resistance.
Known For
Time after time, soldiers of the Italian Army are forced to leave their mountain trenches in attempts to storm an enemy fortress, always with the same disastrous results. As casualties mount, indignation spreads among the rank and file. Disturbed by his superiors' decisions, Lieutenant Sassu is led to question the purpose of war and reconsider where his real duties lie.
Many Wars Ago
'L'ultimo pugno di terra' (The Last Fistful of Land) is a 1966 documentary film directed by Fiorenzo Serra about the anguish and instability of the lower classes in a destitute Sardinia. Originally commissioned by the Sardinian regional government as a celebratory piece on the 'miraculous' effects of the 'Piano di Rinascita della Sardegna' (Sardinia's Rebirth Plan), the film instead shows an island still 'standing still in time', barely affected by the painful oxymoron of the inevitable changes taking place.