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“Combattente” is a physical and intellectual journey to discover one of the greatest protagonists of twentieth-century Italian cinema. This is the path undertaken by Raoul Bova in the new documentary directed by the winner of two Nastri D’argento and three-time David nominee Marco Spagnoli, dedicated to the extraordinary figure of Raf Vallone, actor, intellectual, sportsman and man deeply connected to his roots.
The Roman actor of Calabrian origins, whom Vallone ideally considered his “heir”, guides the story through the three symbolic places of his existence: Calabria, his native land which forged his character; Turin, the city where he grew up, was educated and lived the decisive years of his youth; and Sperlonga, family refuge and place of the heart where Vallone and his wife Elena Varzi spent most of their lives together.
Alongside Raoul Bova, the film’s co-star is Stefania Spampinato, an Italian actress living in Los Angeles and an established face on the international scene, who accompanies the audience in a contemporary reinterpretation of the human and artistic story of a couple who have gone through over half a century of Italian history while remaining united on and off the set.
Produced by Massimo Di Rocco and Luigi Napoleone for Bartlebyfilm, with the contribution of the Calabria Film Commission, written by Manuela Tempesta and Marco Spagnoli who is also the director, Combattente is based on an exceptional research work conducted starting from hundreds of unpublished letters exchanged between Raf Vallone and Elena Varzi over the course of their lives. An intimate and precious heritage, guarded by the family and made available by the heirs Eleonora Vallone, Arabella Vallone and Saverio Vallone, which opens for the first time a direct look at the feelings, aspirations, difficulties and choices that accompanied their long love story.
Through film clips, private documents, archive materials, testimonies and the places that marked the actor’s destiny, the documentary returns the portrait of a man who was much more than an international star. From his commitment to football and journalism, from the partisan struggle in Hollywood through his successes in neorealism, from his collaborations with the greatest Italian and foreign directors to his success in the main theaters of the world, the figure of a protagonist of twentieth-century culture emerges, capable of combining popularity, moral rigor and civil passion.
Born in 1916, football champion with Torino before graduating in Law and then in Philosophy, journalist and then protagonist of the Neorealism season, Vallone was one of the best known and most appreciated Italian actors in the world. Launched by masterpieces such as Bitter Rice, he worked with some of the most important directors of the twentieth century, from Giuseppe De Santis to Vittorio De Sica, also conquering Hollywood and the international theater by bringing Arthur Miller’s A Look from the Bridge to the theater in America, London and France, with whom he became a great friend. Equipped with an elegant charm and an extraordinary interpretative intensity, he has become the symbol of an Italy capable of combining popular culture, civil commitment and international success. Behind the public persona, however, there was a man deeply attached to his family, to the values he believed in and to the great love of his life, the actress Elena Varzi, at the center of a relationship that lasted over fifty years.
Combattente thus tells not only the rise of a great performer, but also an extraordinary story of love, family and identity, giving the public the most authentic face of Raf Vallone: that of a man who knew how to navigate his time without ever giving up the values in which he believed.
Filming, underway in Calabria after touching Turin, will end at the end of September and the film will be ready in the first weeks of 2027.