Red-faced over Barbarossa film

Rutger Hauer plays the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I in Barbarossa.

Silvio Berlusconi backed it as a celebration of northern Italian pride. The leader of Italy's most outspoken anti-immigrant political party appeared in it. And the state television network, Rai, partly paid for it.

But despite the hype and a €10 million ($20 million) price tag the first attempt to produce a "patriotic" film for Italians living north of Florence has turned out a box-office disaster and the catalyst for an unseemly political row.

Barbarossa stars Rutger Hauer as the Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick I, who unsuccessfully fought the clans of northern Italy in the 12th century. As an epic tale of derring-do and heroic defiance by Milanese rebels, the film's plot was seen by the Northern League - which dreams of establishing a breakaway country in the north called Padania - as a 139-minute party political broadcast. Leader Umberto Bossi even plays a cameo role and influential supporters of the Padania project provided much of the financial backing.

The film depicts the defeat of Frederick I at the epic battle of Legnano by forces led by Alberto da Giussano, a famed Milanese blacksmith. Da Giussano is one of Bossi's heroes.

Combining opposition to immigration with disdain for rule from Rome Bossi recently threatened to form a line of northerners along the Po to keep out foreigners. It was a stunt typical of the aggressive populist style that won him 8.3 per cent of the vote at last year's election and a seat in Berlusconi's cabinet.

At Barbarossa's premiere this month, Bossi said: "This is the dawn of a reawakening." Berlusconi described the medley of battle cries and thundering hooves as "bellissima".

But in its opening weekend Italy's cinemagoers disagreed and by the end of last week, the magazine L'Espresso asked whether the film would prove to be the biggest flop in the history of Italian cinema.

- OBSERVER