This short Italian film recounts the tale of a heroic victory against the Austro-Hungarian navy, employing all the latest techniques in filmmaking to tell that tale as epically and beautifully as possible along the way. The footage is stunningly composed and shot at a very measured pace despite there being a deadly sea battle going on. And the colours which were added in post only makes it all look more wonderful – especially in the final scene, where the Italian ‘Tricolore’ flag blowing in the wind has been painstakingly hand-coloured in green, white and red. Regardless of your feelings about nationalism, this fascinating film is as much of a triumph as the victory it portrays: a perfect bit of war propaganda. Shown widely throughout Italy in the last months of the First World War, one gets the feeling that a single victory at sea is not the only thing being celebrated here. Though it was still months away, the tone and manner suggest that the Italians already knew they’d won the war.

Karl Wratschko