Le navire blanc

This is a very unusual war film as there is practically no war in it at all. Everything happens at sea, there is no drama, no story, it appears as a downright documentary, but after the battle with many casualties, the film takes an interesting turn, moving over to a hospital ship, and for this later part of the film it is worth watching indeed. There are some very fine sequences here, which actually touch the heart, concentrating on close-ups on the casualties and their nurses, and here you see the later famous Rossellini rising with Italian neo-realism. There are no professional actors here, it is all taken directly from reality, combining a very strict documentary with a very human document. There were quite a number of Italian war films that all focus on the human side of the war, that is the back side of it, like."Il treno crociato" 1943. Although not an impressive film, the last sequence will fill your heart, and that impression at least will last.

It is little known but Roberto Rossellini had an artistic life before "Rome, Open City ", one the pope of neo-realism was loath to brag about, since he had put his talent at the service of Mussolini. His first three feature films (gathered under the generic title of "The War Trilogy") were indeed made under the flag of fascism, "The White Ship" being the first of the three.

Filmed in 1941, using (to surprisingly good dramatic effect) filmed achives dating from 9-7-1940 (Battle of Punta Stilo) and 27-11-1940 (Battle of Cape Teulada), "The White Ship" is in no way a criticism of Mussolini's policies. How could it? If it had tried to be, it would never have existed! But can it be qualified as pure propaganda, in the manner of "Vecchia Guarda" (1934) or "Luciano Serra pilota" (1938)" for instance?

The answer to this tricky question is... yes and no!

Yes, on the one hand, because Rossellini is clearly on the Italian side : Mussolini's war is a just war. The opening is telltale in this respect: a mighty battleship is given to our admiration and the martial music that accompanies those glorious shots leaves no doubt about who the victors should be, who the victors will be. But shortly after this embarrassing introduction the tone changes significantly. And we are soon led to think that no, this not a propaganda work, at least that there is more to it than just political brainwashing. For what is Rossellini obviously interested in? Showing how mighty the Italian Navy is? The first Eisenstein-like shots already described naturally give this impression but as the film unfurls, what does the director show us ? A semi-victory won at the cost of many casualties and destructions. And does he present his characters in a heroic light, like so many American or Soviet films? Not at all, the sailors on board are ordinary young men with ordinary feelings: they long for home, think of the girl they left behind, try to raise each other's spirits during moments of relaxation... And when Rossellini's camera shows them in the throes of battle, it does not hide the fact that many get killed or severely burned. Not very effective in terms of propaganda, is it?

Another option that goes against the notion of successful agitprop is the director's obvious privileging the human factor over metaphor or allegory. The officers are little seen and are reduced to the status of men trying to carry out their task as competently as possible. While the sailors, as I have already said, are never shown acting heroically, they are John Does doing their duty, no GI Joes. The same is true for the second part of the story taking place on a hospital ship where the wounded main protagonist has been transferred : all we see is suffering patients and the medical staff at work. Nothing metaphoric about them, they are only themselves as part of a war machine beyond their control. An impression that gets reinforced by the fact that none of the actors are professionals. In "The White Ship", veracity matters more than the official ideology.

It all happens as if Rossellini was instilling the neo-realism to come into what was intended by the authorities as a sheer propaganda object, which saves the film and its maker from dishonor. Is "The White Ship" a masterpiece for all that? Not really ! For three reasons: first it is a hybrid product hesitating between documentary and fiction, between agitprop and realism. Secondly, it has a conventional love story, just worthy of a photo-novel. The third defect may be the worst: the characters lack psychological depth. They ring true but remain superficial all the time, preventing the viewer from identifying with them.

Nevertheless, "The White Ship" is not a film to be disdained. It has a rich historical value and manages to stick to the sailors' and officers' everyday lives rather than produce the pompous call to glory expected by Rossellini's fascist sponsors. Imperfect as it is, it is a valuable document as well as in its best moments, a precursor of neo-realism. Rome will soon be opened.

The film stands as a compelling artifact of wartime cinema, embodying a tension between propagandistic purpose and emergent cinematic realism. It occupies a fascinating space where the demands of fascist ideology intersect uneasily with a burgeoning humanistic approach that anticipates Italian neorealism. As the first installment of Roberto Rossellini's early war trilogy, the film reveals a director grappling with the constraints of producing state-sanctioned content under Mussolini's regime, yet unwilling-or perhaps artistically unable-to wholly sacrifice verisimilitude for pure agitprop.

Cinematically, the film's tonal duality is palpable. The opening sequences, with their grandiose shots of Italian naval might accompanied by triumphant martial music, clearly serve to stir patriotic fervor and endorse Mussolini's war effort. This is unmistakably a piece of wartime endoctrination aimed at shaping the "spirit of war" among viewers, celebrating the fascist cause with a visual rhetoric designed to inspire loyalty and collective sacrifice. However, this veneer of glorification gives way rather swiftly to a more subdued, less triumphalist tone, one that spotlights the grim realities faced by the sailors. Instead of heroic archetypes, the camera lingers on ordinary young men, humanizing them through quiet moments of vulnerability-homesickness, camaraderie, and fear-which subverts traditional propagandistic caricatures.

The film's technical craftsmanship further underscores this uneasy balance. The integration of actual archival footage from naval battles, especially the Battle of Punta Stilo and the Battle of Cape Teulada, adds a layer of documentary authenticity unusual for propaganda films of that period. This approach lends the film a semi-documentary style that blurs the line between fiction and reportage, which enhances its historical value but also exposes its hybridity. The often static framing and limited camera movement reflect both the technological limitations and a deliberate focus on the interiority of the characters rather than spectacle, an aspect that would later be more fully realized in neorealist cinema.

Acting is deliberately non-professional, contributing to a raw, unvarnished portrayal of war's impact on individuals rather than idealized warriors. This choice, while lending the film a certain gravitas and realism, simultaneously results in characters that lack psychological depth. They are credible in their surface emotions yet remain somewhat superficial, preventing a full emotional engagement from the viewer. Unlike contemporaneous American or Soviet war films where heroism is accentuated, here the sailors and medical personnel are depicted as cog-like figures within the machinery of war-dutiful but fallible, enduring suffering without the trappings of mythic valor.

The film's technical merits are clear, particularly in its authentic use of archival footage and its detailed recreation of naval life, which lend it significant historical value. However, from a purely cinematic perspective, the film often feels monotonous and predictable. The narrative unfolds in a measured, almost static manner, lacking the dynamic progression or dramatic tension that modern audiences-and even many contemporaneous war films-expect. This restrained pacing, combined with characters who remain psychologically shallow and largely unengaging, results in a viewing experience that can be described as somewhat dull. The story lacks a compelling narrative drive; it is more an observational account than a gripping drama, which limits emotional investment and leaves the film feeling narratively thin.

Despite its earnestness and attention to verisimilitude, the film struggles to sustain engagement due to this absence of narrative momentum and depth. The characters are not fully fleshed out beyond surface traits, and the conventional romantic subplot does little to enliven the plot or add complexity. Consequently, while the film succeeds as a historical document and a proto-neorealist work, it falls short as a captivating cinematic experience.

The transition from the combat scenes to the hospital ship segment marks the film's most poignant and arguably most artistically successful passage. Here, the focus shifts entirely to human suffering and care, rendered with intimate close-ups and patient observation that foreshadow the neorealist preoccupation with everyday humanity. This section eschews metaphor or grand ideological statements, presenting instead a sobering vision of war's aftermath that foregrounds empathy over exhortation.

In comparison with other Italian wartime productions of the early 1940s, such as "Vecchia Guardia" or "Luciano Serra Pilota," it becomes evident that while those films often revel in overt propaganda and heroic mythmaking, this film adopts a more nuanced and ambiguous stance. It is propaganda by design but complicated by Rossellini's artistic sensibilities that pull it toward realism and subtle critique. Unlike the simplistic calls to arms in many fascist-era works, the film's subdued tone, focus on the ordinariness of its characters, and refusal to romanticize loss suggest an embryonic form of neorealist thinking emerging within the constraints of state control.

This uneasy marriage of ideology and artistry produces a hybrid film that is neither fully propaganda nor pure social realism. Its narrative is occasionally hampered by a conventional and somewhat banal romantic subplot that detracts from its more compelling elements, and the characters' psychological shallowness limits the emotional payoff. Nevertheless, the film's commitment to depicting the quotidian realities of naval life, its unvarnished portrayal of casualties, and its documentary inflections give it a unique standing in WWII naval cinema.

The tension between propagandistic indoctrination and emergent cinematic truth permeates the film, making it a valuable piece for those interested in the intersection of art, ideology, and historical documentation in wartime film. The coexistence of Mussolini-era ideological aims with glimpses of the human condition prefigures Rossellini's later neorealist masterpieces and offers a complex portrait of wartime cinema's possibilities and contradictions.