Malatesta

Summary

In this film, director Peter Lilienthal portrays the Italian anarchist and revolutionary Enrico Malatesta in his London exile at the beginning of the 20th century. The miserable living quarters of the emigrants bear witness for the urgency of change, a cause that is supported by a group of anarchists led by Malatesta. The historical social revolutionaries discuss topics like humanism and plan for options of violent resistance. But the urge to "pure action" appears suspicious to Enrico Malatesta. He accuses his impatient companions to be rebels but "not revolutionaries". Now, Malatesta who had been arrested in 1898 for his revolutionary activities in the Italian city of Ancona and who had subsequently been interned on the island of Lampedusa does not seem to be poised to do any riotous actions anymore.