Special Showing: Max Corvo For Freedom

SPECIAL SHOWING FOR MIDDLETOWN

MIDDLETOWN HIGH SCHOOL AUDITORIUM
WEDNESDAY- JULY 10^TH AT 6:30 P.M.   
CO-SPONSORED BY: City of Middletown and Middletown Board of Education, Middletown Commission on the Arts, The Middlesex County Historical Society, The Greater Middletown Military Museum
Suggested Donation of $5 to benefit the Middlesex County Historical Society and the Greater Middletown Military Museum

MAX CORVO
For Freedom
The war of OSS in Italy 1943-1945
 
The docufilm tells the true story of a young Sicilian immigrant who after coming to America and becoming Americanized joins the Army before World War II and becomes the Chief of Operations of Secret Intelligence of the American OSS (Office of Strategic Services-precursor of the CIA), in Italy during the military campaign of Allied forces in Italy from 1943 to 1945.

The young Sicilian is Biagio Max Corvo, originally from Melilli, Sicily. He immigrated to the United States in 1929 at the age of nine, together with his mother, brother and sister to join their father, Cesare, who was forced to leave the island, six years before because he was persecuted by the Fascist regime.

Ezio Costanzo, the director and screenwriter, tells this story using a framework of historical events alternating with personal stories during the secret war conducted in Italy by the men of the American intelligence service, the OSS. The wartime events are enhanced with the individual, brilliant and meticulous memories of young Private Corvo, who in 1941 volunteered for service in the U.S. Army.
Corvo was quickly recruited into the OSS where he prepared an intelligence plan (Corvo Plan) for the organization in Sicily of a network of collaborators for the liberation of the island from the Fascist and Nazis (Operation Husky, 10 July 1943). He was appointed Chief of Secret Intelligence Operations for the OSS in Italy.  He was chosen for this mission because of his familiarity with Italy and Sicily, for his knowledge of the Italian language and the Sicilian dialect and his political friendships among the Italian refugees in the United States. Because of this background Corvo was able to propose and implement a series of espionage operations in the field, some of which were spectacular, in support of the war against the Germans and the Fascists. These missions helped achieve victory for the Allies in Italy during the war.

"Corvo's is a truly incredible story” - says the director and screenwriter of the film Ezio Costanzo – “if you stop and think that he joined the OSS when he was only 22 years old, after having lived in America for just thirteen years.” Even more amazing is the fact that Max Corvo never graduated from high school. Leaving school after the eleventh grade to work to help provide for his family during the Great Depression.

The decision to place this foreign born, very young man as Chief of Operations for Strategic Intelligence operations in Italy was an authentic act of genius by Earl Brennan, the Head of the Italian Section for OSS in Washington. The success of the missions in the field ensured Corvo the constant support of General William Donovan, Director of the OSS. Donovan was a very tough and demanding man. Following the end of World War II and the surrender of the Germans, Corvo and the other leaders of OSS Secret Intelligence operations in Italy were returned rapidly to the United States as a result of complaints from a number of competing OSS agents in Switzerland, including Allen Dulles. Years later, and thanks to the vast documentation preserved by Max Corvo which his family placed in The Max Corvo Archive at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, it was possible to reconstruct this particular moment of the history of Italy, the American OSS and his work during the liberation of Italy from the Nazis and Fascists ".

"Max Corvo had enrolled in the Army as a volunteer in October, 1941 prior to the entry into the war of the United States - says Ezio Costanzo - and in the early months of 1942 he had already written an intelligence plan for the occupation of Sicily. His ideas outlined in a ten-page manuscript highlighting the political and strategic-military approach of the intelligence operations necessary to implement for the success of the campaign were greatly appreciated by the leadership in OSS.

For a young soldier he had clear ideas. The son of a Sicilian anti-Fascist he understood the concept of patriotism. He lived his first nine years of life in Sicily, in Melilli, and his father, Cesare, instilled in him his love for democracy and liberty. In Sicily, as a child, Corvo grew up during the darkest era of Fascism, where every ideal of democracy was struck down.  Max's ideals came from his father, Cesare Corvo. A man with a complex and rich life, who refused to lower his head in front of Fascist abuses. He had fought for his country during the First World War and had infused Max with the profound meaning of justice and non -submission. He taught him to love books and in particular history - that of his island but also of the world and the great protagonists of the past. And Max grew to love and treasure it. His father represented for him the ideal of life, the example to follow. "
 
Telling the story of Max Biagio Corvo and his participation in the events that allowed the liberation of his homeland from the Nazi-Fascists, this docufilm highlights a part of history still to be discovered, made up of often uncomfortable truths.

“The documentary also tries to shed light on the collaboration between the American intelligence services and the National Liberation Committee - says Ezio Costanzo - implemented through the economic and military support that the United States had given, through the OSS, to the Italian Partisan groups. Support and collaboration that would later cause controversial reactions in the United States and eventually led to the recall of Corvo and his men, falsely accused of support of communism. The film also addresses questions about the death of Mussolini whose capture and arrest had been a clear priority for Max Corvo but which he was not able to complete. Max Corvo Archive documents we consulted have allowed us to answer many questions regarding the invasion of Sicily in the summer of 1943 including false accusations that the OSS actively collaborated with Mafia leaders ".

The film is also enriched by the unpublished interview with the son of Max Corvo, Bill Corvo, who tells the life of his father.
 
Ezio Costanzo, director and screenwriter of the docufilm, is the author of several books on the war in Sicily in 1943 and historical documentaries. Among his works, the film “Moral Bombing. The weapon of pain "in which he presented the dramatic impact of the carpet bombing on the civilian population in Italy during the Second World War and the biographical film" Phil Stern. The war and the soul” in which he narrates the life of the great American World War II photographer and his return to Sicily after 70 years. Costanzo worked closely with Filippo Arlotta and his Italian film production company FAERIA on this project.
The docu-film on Max Corvo is produced by Cordan Enterprises, LLC