Locomotiva1 How to make a film in Italy.A script that has anything original or "important": war is bad, that's it. But it's a "liberal" point of view, so it's good and it's enough.The same actors seen in every Italian film adding the usual comedian out of a night show (Favino) to have a "known one", and an homage to "bigger names" of the director's circle, giving a cameo to Orlando (Moretti's best one) and Cederna (Salvatore's own).Bad acting: in Italian, every actor murmured in some local "patois", and hardly you can understand what they say. That's a cliché of every Italian war movie, that Italian soldiers uttered strong local accents: war movie or comic film. Not else.Even budget wasn't SO low, no attempt to research what's the right uniforms, vehicles, terms, historical details, as none of the blue-nosed liberal producers wants to talk with the "militarist" who collect or study military history.Spice all with "I'm an artist" attitude, and you have a typical Italian movie.

moss_icon History has not been kind to the Italian army for it's efforts in WWII, garnering a rather depressing image. Ill-equipped, ill-trained and ill-led, they were trounced by the British in North Africa prior to Rommel and the Afrika Korp's arrival, and later gave up the ghost in their own country with little resistance. So it is interesting to get the viewpoint of that nation on the subject of their part in the war. This film portrays the trials of a division on the front. It dispenses with the traditional war movie clichés, guns blazing, American heroics, you're more than familiar with it... choosing instead to focus more on the lives of the soldiers who have tired of a conflict that is heading nowhere bar the inevitable defeat whilst the British horde their forces. The initial hour covers small tales and little moments that break the boredom of life on the immobile front. An artillery attack here, a swim in the ocean there, a bullet dodged, a mortar shell detonating just far enough away to allow the soldiers to see another day. I enjoy this style of movie, where it does not attempt to tell a grand story, rather give us an insight into how people cope with being alive in such a morbid situation.The second half of the film sees the British finally assault the Italian lines, which are overwhelmed by the sheer weight of numbers that are brought to bear. The division is over-run and forced to retreat, and no longer is anything relevant to these men but the slim hope of survival, pushing on, hoping to make it home. Ridiculous orders to stand fast come down from Il Duce, far removed from the ravages of desert war. The film becomes a detached, dreamlike affair as the dwindling force stumbles through the dry desert, pushed westward, severely lacking food and water.This film may also hold the distinction of being the only WWII movie to feature full frontal male nudity, but I can't qualify that comment. Beyond that, this is an excellent movie - devoid of the trappings of Hollywood and presenting the conflict from the viewpoint of a bitter, soul-crushing defeat for the Italians. They may have been over-matched, but they were no different to any other soldier who just wanted to make it to the end of the war.Top notch.

Bryce Rumbles Given its small budget, this is a fine little film about Italian troops abandoned in the face of the British counter attack at El Alamein in late 1942.More films and books need to be made about this sad chapter in the history of Italy, whose international military reputation is somewhat lower than that of the French.Italian troops gave no less to their cause than did Germans or the British, the Russians, the Americans, and the Japanese. But because of poor leadership from Mussolini on down, they were forced to surrender in droves, and as much as we don't want to admit it, we Westerners hold those who surrender in pretty low esteem.This film goes a long way toward correcting the historical record through its touching story, beautiful acting, wonderful art direction, and absolutely stunning cinematography.

shyguy-3 Hey, we are in 2002, we have seen a lot of war movies like this.Kubrick's "Paths of glory" in the fifties, and then all those movies about the war in Vietnam. Ok, it is not bad, but it's easy to make a movie like this after Kubrick, Coppola, and so on. The only new thing here is the soundtrack. I was expecting something more by Emilio Solfrizzi (Lt. Fiore), but Favino and Briguglia were ok. 6/10