13/19
Army sends a volunteer company to patrol the unexplored territories of the West
Plot
In the winter of 1862, during the Civil War, the U.S. Minervini built a set in Montana, then had the actors live there for two months. The dialogue and thoughts expressed are those invented by the actors while living in the wilderness, imagining themselves as soldiers in the Civil War.
The troops are mixed, some middle-aged, some elderly, most in their thirties
The Damned: In the winter of 1862, a volunteer detachment of Union soldiers is sent to defend a mountainous area, we are not told where it is, we do not even know the names of the soldiers. After the regular troops leave, they are subdued by a John Brown-style patriarch with a flowing beard, and his teenage sons are also enlisted. All those who lack military experience, share knowledge and pass on skills.
The buffalo is killed and butchered
We witness mobile sentries, long-distance shooting of cyclists. The desolate landscape, the hills, the mountain meadows, the sliding snow, the exhaustion of cold food: all this increases the feeling of existential despair. There is a battle, we do not see the enemy, we see the victims of unity.
Some of them are welcome
War is hell, especially if you no longer know why you are there. A very Ken Loach-like film, without everyday dialogue and with many ordinary people acting, amateurs as soldiers. This improvisation leads to philosophical, religious and political discussions around campfires.
Written and directed by Roberto Minervini, 8/10
But this is a small distraction from this crude representation of men at war.