Many Wars Ago
Uomini contro (internationally released as Many Wars Ago) is a 1970 Italo-Yugoslav anti war drama film directed by Francesco Rosi.[1][2][3] It is based on the memoir by Emilio Lussu, Un anno sull'altipiano[4] ("One year on the plateau").
| Many Wars Ago | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Francesco Rosi |
| Produced by | Francesco Rosi Marina Cicogna |
| Written by | Francesco Rosi Raffaele La Capria Tonino Guerra |
| Based on | Emilio Lussu (memoir) |
| Starring | Gian Maria Volonté Alain Cuny Pier Paolo Capponi |
| Music by | Piero Piccioni |
| Cinematography | Pasqualino De Santis |
| Edited by | Ruggiero Mastroianni |
| Distributed by | Dubrava Film |
Release date | 1970 |
Running time | 101 min |
| Country | Italy |
| Language | Italian |
The film was screened at the 65th Berlin International Film Festival in honor of Francesco Rosi, who had died a few weeks before.[5]
Plot
1916–17, Italian WWI front.
Time after time the soldiers are forced to leave their trenches in attempts to storm the enemy positions, always with the same horrific result. The Austro-Hungarian machine guns inevitably mow them down. In one attack a major is killed during a mutiny, and subsequently every tenth man of his battalion is chosen to be executed by a firing squad of his comrades, in some bizarre kind of compensation for the killed officer. And it gets only worse...
References
- In the movie it is possible to see in a scene the type of Brewster Body Shield, an armour used by U.S.Army in World War I and called in the movie "Corazze Fasina", which refers to the Corazze Farina, the armour actually in use by the Italian Royal Army in WWI.
- The plot shares a number of similarities with the Stanley Kubrick movie Paths of Glory.
Cast
- Gian Maria Volonté as Lieutenant Ottolenghi
- Pier Paolo Capponi as Lieutenant Santini
- Alain Cuny as General Leone
- Franco Graziosi as Major Malchiodi
- Mark Frechette as Lieutenant Sassu
- Nino Vingelli as Wounded Private
- Mario Feliciani as the Medical Officer
- Giampiero Albertini as Captain Abbati
- Daria Nicolodi as Red Cross Nurse
- Alberto Mastino as Private Marrasi
- Brunetto Del Vita as Colonel Stringari
References
- Roberto Chiti; Roberto Poppi; Enrico Lancia. Dizionario del cinema italiano – I film. Gremese Editore.
- Pasquale Iaccio. La Storia sullo schermo: il Novecento. Pellegrini Editore, 2004.
- Francesco Bolzoni. I Film Di Francesco Rosi. Gremese Editore, 1986.
- http://digilander.libero.it/davis2/lezioni/fotocine/film/uomini%20contro.htm (in Italian)
- Scott Roxborough (13 January 2015). "Berlin Festival to Screen 'Many Wars Ago' in Honor of Francesco Rosi". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 11 May 2015.