In my quest
to discern the 100 Best War Movies, I am working my way through Military
History Magazine’s 100 Greatest War Movies list.In the process, I am also looking at movies
that could potentially crack the top 100.One of the ways for a movie to make the potential queue is for the movie
to get 4 bones in “Video Hound’s War Movies” guide.One of those movies is “The Siege of Firebase
Gloria”.This movie is highly regarded
by many so you would think it would be pretty good.You would be wrong!
The movie is set during the Tet
Offensive at an isolated base camp near a South Vietnamese village.The movie opens with a squad entering a
village to find the villagers dead and in some cases mutilated.“This is insanity” says one.Sgt. Major Hafner (R. Lee Ermey – two years
after “Full Metal Jacket”) responds with “This is effective”.There is plenty of action and gunfire from
here.They walk up on a nest of VC and
kill all of them (including women fighters) without suffering a loss.Surprise, the men at the base are an
undisciplined bunch.Some are smoking
joints, including the CO who is unconcerned with Hafner’s warning that
something big is coming.That night
Hafner and his buddy Di Nardo (Wings Hauser) frag the CO.
Hafner is a bad-ass
Hafner takes command and forces
the men to improve the defenses. The base has an aid station with nurses which
seems inaccurate for a forward base, but allows the modern day knights to
protect the damsels in distress.Two
Vietnamese girls come up flirtatiously, but Di Nardo opens fire and they blow
up.Di Nardo is hard core and knows the
enemy cannot be trusted.
The assault begins.The enemy tactic is frontal attacks in broad
daylight on just one part of the perimeter.They do not use their overwhelming numbers to put pressure on one area
and then break through elsewhere.(Do
not watch this movie to learn any military tactics unless you plan to do the
opposite of what both sides do.)They
also cannot win even though the camp has no barbed wire around it, no
claymores, and very shallow trenches.But if you are uninterested in accuracy, you will enjoy the mindless old
school fighting and dying (throw your arms up in the air before you fall).Did you know that after repelling an assault,
American soldiers would be sent out of the perimeter to shoot the wounded
enemy?According to this movie, this
happened.By the way, did you know that
you could load an AK-47 banana clip into an M-16?
At night Hafner, Di Nardo, and
Murphy disguise themselves as VC and sneak up on the VC camp.They set up claymores which do not have
wires.They escape and then the mines go
off apparently by magic.
Another daylight assault gives
Di Nardo the chance to wield a machete.Gunships are called in to kill bunches because the regular killing is
getting redundant.The helicopters go on
to spray the enemy camp and they bring in supplies, but they do not evacuate
the wounded or the nurses!Later, the
enemy sneaks in and impales the heads of a gun crew without anyone noticing!
Di Nardo is a psycho, but he's American
In the obligatory final assault,
the enemy break in and even reach the hospital where they treacherously kill
all the nurses except the head nurse who guns down several with a machine
gun.She’s normally a pacifist, but…Hafner goes hand-to-hand with the VC leader
(naturally), but he gets away wounding Di Nardo in the process.The paralyzed Di Nardo begs Hafner to put him
out of his misery.You can’t torture
prisoners if you are paralyzed, thus there is no reason to live.I won’t give it away what Hafner does, but I
will say I cheered.The VC have been
repulsed for the last time.We win, but
the VC leader rescues a little village boy that the Yankee dogs had
mascoted.He lives happily ever after in
Communism.
One of the things about
reviewing movies is you will sometimes look back at a review and wonder what
the hell you were thinking.I sincerely
hope the critics who have positively reviewed this piece of crap have done
their mea culpas.I am a big fan of
Video Hound’s guide, but I just randomly opened up the book to find that it
gave “A Bridge Too Far” 3 ½ bones which means Mike Mayo (the author) thinks SFG
is better than BTF.Are you kidding, Mr.
Mayo?
The movie is poorly acted
(sorry, R. Lee), especially by the scene-chewing Hauser.The dialogue is cheesy.It is laughably inaccurate and
unrealistic.It besmirches the American
soldier by showing him committing atrocities.The only positive thing I can say is the enemy commander is portrayed in
a sympathetic way.He is similar to the
commander in “We Were Soldiers”.At the
end, he realizes he was being used by the NVA so they could take over the war
from the VC.They wanted him to suffer
heavy losses.Unfortunately, the movie
dilutes this message by having him make mindlessly bloody frontal assaults in
broad daylight.There are at least
twelve Vietnam War movies better than this.See them first.
BACK-STORY:“The Battle of Algiers” is an
Italian/Algerian production released in 1966.The film was subsidized by the Algerian government.It was directed by Italian Gillo Pontecorvo
in the neorealist style.He was nominated
for the Best Director Oscar and the film also got nods for Original Screenplay
and Foreign Language Film.It won
numerous international awards.The movie
was banned in France for many years and the torture scenes were edited for the
U.S. (I must have seen one of the edited versions) and the United Kingdom.
OPENING:The movie opens in Algiers in
1957.Algeria is a French colony and it
has been in a state of rebellion for several years.French soldiers have just finished water
torturing an Algerian terrorist.He has
told them the whereabouts of a most-wanted and they are now solicitous to
him.They dress him up as one of their
own so he can lead them to the hideout.This scene will be mirrored later when Algerian women dress as European
women to infiltrate the French quarter.As the credits roll, an apartment building is surrounded with the target
Ali La Pointe (Brahim Haggiag) hiding in a safe-room.It’s flashback time!
SUMMARY:We are now in Algiers in the year
1954.The setting is the Casbah (the
quarter that was the epicenter of the uprising ).A street grifter named Ali is picked up by
the police after a random European jerk trips him simply because he is
running.This subtly implies the racism
of the colonizers.Ali is politicized in
prison.He witnesses guillotinings (but
I didn’t in my edited version).
Five
months later, Ali is free and recruited by Djafar (Saadi Yacef) of the FLN (the National Liberation Front).His initiation is to murder a policeman.Surprise – there are no bullets in the
gun.It was test to see if he was a
plant.(Don’t ask why pulling the
trigger on an empty gun proves more than on a loaded gun.)Ali has found his calling as a terrorist
bad-ass.One of his first tasks is to
gun down an Algerian who does not want to join the FLN.Ali’s an amateur, but he has potential.
The
uprising begins with an attack on a police station and a drive-by.The French seal off the Arab quarter with
barbed wire and checkpoints.The
tit-for-tat escalates (as it tends to do).French soldiers are gunned down (sans blood).A group of Frenchmen (apparently part of a
militia-type organization) set off a bomb in an apartment building.The aftermath is stunning.Uncovering the corpses in the debris
(including children).Mourning
survivors.Solemn music.No dialogue.The solemnity morphs into a chaotic revenge mob scene.We are in the thick of it with Ali.The FLN intervenes with a promise to get
even.Did I mention the movie has
absolutely no sense of humor?
In
the movie’s best scene, three Algerian women change their appearance to pass as
Europeans.They breeze through the
checkpoints without having to show identification.Your typical Arab, especially the men, are
harshly treated.Each of the women has a
bomb to plant in a location frequented by French civilians.The movie serves as a good tutorial for
terrorist bombers.The suspense builds
to an explosive conclusion (get it?)The
results mirror the earlier bombing (and pictures I have seen of Viet Cong
bombings in Saigon).This scene makes me
glad to be living in America, more empathetic to citizens living in countries
like Israel, and concerned that the same thing could happen here
The
French government reacts to the bombings with a surge.French paratroopers led by Lt. Col. Matthieu
arrive to cheering French crowds.Matthieu establishes martial law.His policy is to isolate and destroy the insurgents.Now the tutorial is on
counter-terrorism.Matthieu coolly
lectures his officers on how rebel organizations work.They create cells.Intelligence gathering through “enhanced”
interrogation is the key.“Humane
considerations can only lead to despair and confusion.”He is hoping for an incident that will give
him an excuse to further crack down.The
Arabs provide this in the form of a general strike.Matthieu launches Operation Champagne.
The
French begin by kicking down doors in a scene replicated in Spielberg’s Krakow
ghetto scene from “Schindler’s List”.The French press is now on the story.They remind Indochina veteran Matthieu about Dien Bien Phu, but he is
not concerned.He feels the end
justifies the means as the strategy is working.A montage highlights the means – water boarding, blow torches, ropes,
electricity.Thank goodness these
methods are no longer used!
CLOSING:We are back full circle from the
opening as the French paratroopers closes in on Ali.He and three comrades (including a boy and a
woman) are hiding in a no-longer-secret room.Since it is unlikely they will give up without a fight, Matthieu has the
room rigged with explosives.Ironic,
eh?Matthieu is confident the war is
over, but it is a pyrrhic victory.
The
post script takes us to 1960 when the “Algerian spring” erupts.Newsreel-like footage of mobs effectively
previews the success of the independence movement.
RATINGS:
Acting =B
Action =6/10
Accuracy
=A
Plot =B
Realism =A
Overall =B
WOULD CHICKS DIG
IT?It would help if
they are a cinephile.The movie is not a
hard-core war movie.There is no
bloodshed or graphic violence.There are
strong female characters, even though they are terrorists.It’s an interesting movie for both sexes.
HISTORICAL
ACCURACY:The movie is set
in the Algerian War of Independence which lasted from 1954-1962.Algeria had been a French colony since 1830.The
FLN (National Liberation Front) was created in March, 1954.It consisted of socialists,
anti-colonialists, and Islamists.The
movie was inspired by the memoir “Souvenirs de la Bataille d’Alger” by an FLN
commander named Saadi Yacef (he basically plays himself as Djafar in the film).The war began with the Toussaint Rouge (“Red
All Saints’ Day”) incident when the FLN launched thirty attacks on military and
police targets.French colonists (colons) demanded retaliation.Colons conducted ratonnades (rat-hunts) to
kill suspected FLN members and collaborators.In August , 1955 the FLN reacted with the massacre of French civilians
in the town of Philippeville.Previously, the FLN had limited itself to military and police
targets.The gloves were off now.A classic guerrilla war was underway.Tit for tat.Torture for torture.The French
army attacked villages deemed sympathetic to the FLN.Villagers were relocated to strategic
hamlet-like locations.Meanwhile, the
FLN was conducting kidnappings and performing ritual murder and mutilation of
French soldiers.
The Battle of Algiers began when members
of a French militia planted a bomb in a Casbah apartment building resulting in
the deaths of 73 Algerians.This is the
incident depicted in the film.This led
to the other historical depiction.Three
Algerian female militants planted bombs in a milk bar, a cafeteria, and a
travel agency.
The
French government started a counterinsurgency campaign with a large increase in
troops deployed to Algeria.The total
peaked at 400,000 (including 170,000 loyal Muslim Algerians). Gen.Massau (the inspiration for Matthieu) was allowed to operate outside the
legal barriers which means he could use torture methods to interrogate.The movie accurately portrays the success of
his methods.The terrorist cells were
rooted out and the insurgency collapsed in Algiers.Ironically, this victory sowed the seeds of
the eventual French defeat as the French public began to question involvement
in Algiers.This had some similarities
to the aftermath of the Tet Offensive.
The
French used search and destroy methods and raised units of loyal Muslim
irregulars.You can guess what methods
they used in what was essentially a civil war inside the war of
independence.Sound familiar?The movie chooses not to reference the civil
war aspect of the conflict.
In
May, 1958, the colons and French army officers overthrew the Fourth
French Republic and De Gaulle returned to power.To their chagrin, DeGaulle decided to seek a
peaceful solution to the quagmire.Eventually a referendum was held that allowed the Algerian people to
vote in favor of independence.
CRITIQUE:I was not too impressed at first,
but the movie builds nicely.It does not
take long to realize you are watching something special.Ironically, I saw this soon after “Rome, Open
City”.Both come from the neo-realist
school popular in Italy at that time.See my summary of that style at "Rome, Open City" .“The Battle of Algiers” has all the bells and whistles.Hand held cameras, grainy film, use of
nonprofessional actors, the newsreel look, prominent roles for kids.
The
acting is surprisingly good considering there is only one professional actor in
the cast.Jean Martin plays Matthieu
with gravitas. He is played as a
reasonable villain.His lectures on
counterinsurgency to his officers and his condescending interplay with the
press are very military.He’s a
charismatic Westmoreland (the U.S, commanding general in Vietnam).Interestingly, Martin was a veteran.He had been a paratrooper in Indochina.The actor supported Algerian
Independence.One strength of the acting
is you would not know that he was the only professional.The other main actors do not come off as
amateurish.There are strong female
characters and the boy Petit Omar is depicted as a valuable member of the
FLN.He is very reminiscent of Marcello
in “Rome, Open City”.
The
music is cool.It uses a variety of
sounds.Most notably, the crucial scene
with the three female bombers is dominated by African drums which effectively
build the suspense.Other sounds are
used metaphorically.Gunfire,
helicopters, and truck engines symbolize the French army.Bomb blasts, chanting, and wailing background
the Algerians.
The
cinematography is solidly in the neorealist school.The most standout feature is the camera
taking us into the middle of crowds.Pontecorvo also likes to shift from medium range shots to long range
vistas.We get a lot of facial close-ups.
The
themes are instructional on guerrilla warfare.The movie clearly portrays the escalation that is inescapable in a
guerrilla war.Anyone conversant with
the Vietnam War or the Filipino War for Independence will not be surprised with
the dynamics of the film.The suffering
of innocents caught in the middle of the conflict is another theme.Guerrillas being faces in the crowd and
blending into the populace is another.Matthieu represents the “end justifies the means” approach often taken
by conventional forces faced with an insurgency.
CONCLUSION:“The Battle of Algiers” is an
important film that lives up to its billing.It supposedly inspired guerrilla and terrorist groups like the Black
Panthers and IRA.In 2003, it was screened
at the Pentagon during the Iraq War.The invitation mentioned “How to win a battle against terrorism and lose
the war of ideas”.It’s a pity it was
not required viewing at the Pentagon in 1968 during the Vietnam War. The movie can be viewed by both insurgents and counterinsurgents because it is admirably even-handed. Although clearly favoring the FLN, Gen. Matthieu is depicted as a reasonable and worthy adversary.
The
film is excellent in bringing attention to the Algerian War for Independence
and the Battle of Algiers in particular.I knew virtually nothing about the conflict before watching it and doing
my requisite research.I have a good
friend whose father fought in the conflict as a French soldier so I was
especially looking forward to reviewing it and learning more about the war and
its effects on the participants.This
movie makes you empathize with both sides.
Although
ranked just ahead of “Rome, Open City”, “The Battle of Algiers” is a better
film.This is partly because it is more
historically accurate and informative.Made
twenty years after, it benefits from the evolution of neorealism and lack of
difficulties in filming compared to “Rome, Open City”.It’s ranking at #24 is the rare case of
Military History getting the quality plus importance right.
POSTER:Kind of weird. A pastiche of styles. Does not clearly convey the jist of the film. Grade = C
TRAILER: Excellent. Great juxtapositioning of the two sides. Grade = A
“Tunes of Glory” is a British
service film released in 1960.It was
directed by Ronald Neame from a novel by James Kennaway.Kennaway adapted his novel for the screenplay
and adjusted it significantly to make the movie plot better than the
novel.His script was nominated for an
Academy Award.He served in the Gordan
Highlanders.The title comes from the
bagpiping at regimental ceremonies.
The
movie opens with bagpipers entertaining officers at a dinner in a Scottish
Highlander regimental barracks in the post-WWII period.Maj. Jock Sinclair (Alec Guinness) presides
like a frat president.He chastises a young
officer for not smoking his cigarette like a man.Sinclair announces he is being superseded by
a new commander.These seems unfair
considering that he led the regiment through the war after their commander was
killed.Sinclair had risen through the
ranks after starting as a piper.
The
new commander is a Lt. Col. Barrow (John Mills).Barrow is the polar opposite of
Sinclair.He is upper class and
graduated from Oxford.He spent the last
part of the war in a Japanese prison camp.He is now in command because his family is associated with the
regiment.While Sinclair is a drunken,
arrogant bonhomme who is loved by his men. Barrow is an officious martinet.Both men have been effected by their war
experience.Sinclair is still addicted
to the camaraderie and only results matter mentality.Barrow is obviously suffering from the mental
consequences of his Japanese imprisonment.It is implied that he was tortured.
Barrow
cracks the whip on the frat house antics and insists the officers learn
highland dancing in anticipation of a party for the locals.(Imagine forcing a frat house to learn square
dancing.)In a telling exchange, Barrow
demands the bagpipers follow a dress code and Sinclair insists it’s the music
that matters.Sinclair is constantly
undermining Barrow’s authority and is quick with snide comments.He is quite the ass.
The
party is a disaster as Sinclair and his posse get drunk and dance
inappropriately.Barrow has a melt
down.Soon after, Sinclair catches his
daughter (Susannah York) in an affair with a lowly piper and punches him.Sinclair’s best friend Scott (Dennis Price)
wants Sinclair’s girl so he secretly urges Barrow to throw the book at
Sinclair.At this point the regimental
officers begin to represent a cheerleader squad with all the backbiting and factions.Barrow knows he’s in a no win situation, but
naturally leans toward following the rule book no matter the effect on morale.
In
a powerful scene, Barrow comes to apologize for charging Sinclair, but argues
he has no choice.Sinclair plays
contrite and argues the affair should be swept under the rug for the good of
the regiment.He promises to toe the
line from now on.Barrow reluctantly
agrees to the deal.Happy ending with
mutual respect developing, right?Wrong!Sinclair and his frat
buddies become insufferable and Scott needles Barrow for wimping out even
though he can see he is fragile mentally.Both leads are on downward paths because they cannot change their
personalities.
“Tunes
of Glory” is worth seeing mainly for the great acting.Guinness and Mills are fantastic and the rest
of the cast hangs with them.The two
leads do not chew the scenery although it must have been tempting to.Susannah York is nice eye candy in her first
role.The acting must have been the main
reason the movie was so positively received by critics.Looking at the picture as a whole, the acting
overshadows some flaws.The plot is too
simplistic.The two leaders are too
extreme as archetypes.This actually
works pretty well because unlike most movies of this type (e.g., “Damn the
Defiant”, “Platoon”), neither character is sympathetically portrayed and you
can’t root for either.The twist of
Sinclair being unredeemable is certainly uncliche.The biggest flaw is Scott’s behavior.His betrayal of his best friend over a woman
is unrealistic.It is also unrealistic
and lazy to have both leaders suffer nervous breakdowns.It’s as though Kennaway wanted to keep it a
tie to the very end.
“Tunes
of Glory” deserves to be seen, but is overrated.It is instructive on the role of class
distinctions in the British Army.No
army is history has had such a strong dynamic.It’s amazing that it was still strong even after WWII.The movie also is strong in depicting the
varied effects of wartime experiences on peacetime officers.It is one of the best character studies set
in a peacetime army setting.
“Enigma” is
a film by Michael Apted that was released in 2001.It was partly meant to be an answer to
“U-571”. It is based the novel by
Robert Harris.The book and film are
highly fictionalized accounts of the British code-breaking efforts at Bletchley
Park in WWII.Those efforts were based
on captured Enigma machines.Brilliant
cryptanalysts worked to read German military messages.In the movie, those messages involve routing
u-boats to intercept a major convoy.
The movie opens with Tom Jericho
(Dougray Scott) reluctantly returning to Betchley Park after a nervous
breakdown involving being jilted by beautiful fellow geek Claire (Saffron
Burrows).Jericho had earlier broken
the “Shark” code when the Germans updated to a four rotor Enigma machine.It doesn’t take long for Jericho to try to
find Claire, but she is missing.The
movie becomes a mystery as Jericho attempts to find out what happened to
Claire.He finds evidence in her flat
that she has been passing top secret information to someone and this may be
connected to her disappearance.His
amateur sleuthing is aided by Claire’s friend Hester (Kate Winslet).Will romance bloom?Duh!
Interwoven with the personal
story is the bigger picture of saving the convoy by rebreaking the code.The clock is ticking.While Tom focuses with his comrades on doing
their jobs, Hester uses an Enigma machine that she and Tom “borrowed” to read
the intercepts they found in Claire’s room.It turns out that Claire was in possession of a list of Polish officers
executed by the Soviets in Katyn Forest.The British government (represented by an agent named Wigram) wants to cover up the
Katyn Massacre because it would damage their relationship with their allies,
the Russians. Claire passed the information
on to another cryptanalyst nicknamed “Puck” (Nikolaj Waldau) who is Polish and
had a brother whose name is on the list.This humane gesture apparently backfired because the incensed Puck turns
coat to rat out Betchley Park to the Germans to get revenge against Stalin.
Jericho goes after Puck, but
he’s not alone.MI-5 agent Wigram
(Jeremy Northam) is on to both of them.It’s a cat and mouse game.Puck
escapes to Scotland where he hopes to hook up with a u-boat that will take him
and his information to Germany.
As far as historical accuracy,
the movie is fine in depicting how Betchley Park operated and how the Enigma
machine worked.The cryptanalysts were
probably not the heterogeneous characters as depicted in the film, but that is
to be expected and makes the movie less bland.In actuality, the Jericho character is based on a far from boring man
named Alan Turing who was a big contributor to the code-breaking effort.Turing was not your stereotypical geek
because he was a homosexual who was later prosecuted for his sexual orientation
and chemically castrated.Not exactly
the type to fall for Claire and Hester, but possibly the type to structure a
more interesting movie around.
The movie is set in April, 1943
which is inappropriate for the secondary storyline of rebreaking the “Shark”
code to save the convoy.In reality, the
German switch to a four rotor machine occurred in 1942 and had been solved for
good by the time frame of the movie.As
far as the Katyn Massacre, it occurred in April and May of 1940 in the Katyn
Forest in Poland.The NKVD (the Soviet
secret police) executed around 22,000 Polish officers.The orders came from Stalin.The movie’s Claire list is fictional, but it
is true that the Churchill government knew who the villains were and yet supported the
Soviet lies that the Nazis perpetrated the atrocity and he suppressed any contrary
information.The movie dramatizes a race
against time to save a large convoy by solving the four rotor code, but that is
not based on any actual situation.The
implication that a decision will have to be made whether to warn the convoy and
thus jeopardize the code-breaking is intriguing although not really played
out.It is possibly based on the
supposed decision by Churchill to allow the bombing of Coventry without warning
the city.This legend has been refuted,
however.The movie would have been more
interesting if it focused on a fictional dilemma of “warn or not warn” instead
of a romance/espionage plot.
I mentioned that the movie was
partly an answer to “U-571”.If you are
not familiar with that controversy, in this American movie the U.S. Navy is
credited with acquiring the first Enigma machine.In reality, the British deserve that
credit.The British were justifiably
critical of that plot.Ironically,
“Enigma” can be similarly criticized.Although briefly implied, the movie overlooks the fact that the Betchley
Park operation got off the ground originally due to efforts by the Polish
Cypher Bureau.The Poles passed on their
ground-breaking successes to the British.That’s ironic, here’s what’s disgusting.The movie (and book) incredibly makes the main villain a Pole!At least “U-571” did not compound the offense
by having a British member of the crew be a traitor.
The movie is fairly
entertaining.The acting is satisfactory
and the cast is appealing.Special
mention must be made of Kate Winslet who plays Hester as mousy.She is not beautiful in this movie.The chemistry with Scott is fine.The suspense is tame, but thankfully the
code-breaking is not headache inducing.The movie just could have been a lot better and a lot more
thought-provoking.And by the way, this
is not a war movie.
Rating – C+
the trailer
the full movie
TRAILER: Pretty good. Gives you an idea of the plot. Overplays the action, of course. The movie is not as fast-paced as implied. B+
POSTER: Nicely done. Has the four main characters. The convoy is a good touch. A
BACK-STORY:“Rome, Open City” is a cinematic
masterpiece by acclaimed director Roberto Rossellini.It was set and filmed in Italy in 1945 during
the waning days of Nazi occupation.It
was shot in the streets of Rome.The
crude look to the cinematography was the result of the lack of funding, the
damaged studio, and the circumstances.It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and
won the Palme D’Or at Cannes.It is a
landmark in the Italian neorealist movement.These films were noted for a general atmosphere of authenticity,
immediacy as in being shot on location, use of nonprofessionals in roles,
documentary style cinematography, and children in major roles.
OPENING:The situation is established as
German soldiers are marching and singing through the streets of Rome.Soldiers come to arrest Resistance leader
Manfredi (Marcello Paglieri).He
escapes.
SUMMARY:Manfredi meets with a Catholic
priest named Don Pietro (Aldo Fabrizi).He asks the father to meet a contact and deliver some money which lets
us know Don Pietro is part of the underground.Also part of the movement is a pack of young boys who blow things up in
acts of sabotage.
While some daring Romans fight the occupiers,
most Romans try to lead normal lives.This group is typified by Pina (Anna Magnani).She is the pregnant fiance of a communist
Resistance member named Francesco (Francesco Grandjacquet).They are getting married the next day.Pina’s son Marcello (Vito Annicchiarico) is
the leader of the young saboteurs.
the truck's view
The
Roman police chief meets the Gestapo head who looks like Pee Wee Herman’s evil
father.He is effete and slimy.They are working together to nab
Manfredi.Manfredi is hiding at Pina’s
(way to go Einstein – hide at the pregnant soon-to-be-married’s place).Suddenly the building is surrounded and Manfredi
and Francesco are arrested.As they are
taken away in a truck, Pina chases and is gunned down in a powerful scene made
more shocking by its proximity to the comic relief of Don Pietro hitting a
talkative grandpa over the head with a frying pan to shut him up.
In a
brief and unrealistic scene, the Resistance ambushes the truck and rescues the
duo.Francesco and Manfredi take refuge
with a tart named Marina (Maria Michi).Another unwise choice for a host because Marina is on drugs and her
dealer is a lesbian German agent who is so stereotypically villainous you would
cross the street if you saw her approaching on the sidewalk.(Unless, of course, you’re into evil
lesbians.)The lesbian keeps Marina in
the type of clothes an Italian floozy wears.
Don
Pietro is arranging for Manfredi to hide in a monastery when the Gestapo arrive
and they are arrested.Marina gets a new
coat.At Gestapo headquarters, Manfredi
is taken to the torture room by Pee Wee’s father and Don Pietro is forced to
watch, but we don’t get to.Boo!All we hear is moans and then suddenly a
brief shot of a flame.Manfredi dies
pretty easily for a hardened Resistance leader.Meanwhile, Germans in the adjacent lounge are playing poker and
listening to a piano.Get it?One agent refers to the Italians as a slave
race.Manfredi will talk because he is
inferior.A sophisticated German named
Hartmann (Joop van Hulzen) disagrees and contends that all Germans want to do
is kill.This hatred will destroy
Germany and there is no hope.He is
apparently channeling Rossellini.
torturer and torture room
CLOSING:Don Pietro is taken to the
execution site.His last words are “It’s
not difficult to die, it’s difficult to live.”The Italian firing squad misses because they are an Italian firing
squad.Just kidding.They miss because they don’t want to shoot a
priest.You have to draw the line
somewhere.Hartmann kills Don Pietro.All this is witnessed by the sabotage
boys.They walk off into the brighter
Italian future.
RATINGS:
Acting =C
Action =4/10
Accuracy =hard to say
Realism =C+
Plot =C
Overall =C
WOULD CHICKS DIG
IT?Certainly, if
they are a cinephile.It is not a hard
core war movie.It has no graphic
violence or language.It has some strong
female characters and is balanced in portraying the effects of the war on
Italian women.Unfortunately, two of the
three women are stereotypically loathsome.
HISTORICAL
ACCURACY:The movie is
supposedly based on real events as told to Rossellini by actual Resistance
members.This makes it hard to
verify.Let’s assume the events in the
film actually happened.That is
plausible.The movie does not depict
anything that is obviously ridiculous or improbable.Even the young boys sabotaging the German war
effort is based on reality.
One
of the characters (Don Pietro) is clearly based on a real person.Don Pieto Morosini was a Catholic priest who
was part of the Resistance.My research
could not confirm any of his actions in the movie, but the death scene is close
to his execution.The last words are
authentic.The firing squad did miss.The killing was actually done by an Italian
officer, not a German.A telling
decision by Rossellini?He does have
characters that are collaborators, but overall the movie is lenient toward the
Italian public.
CRITIQUE:“Rome, Open City” is a cinematic
classic and deserves its fame.It has an
immediacy to it that makes it unique, especially for back then. It has been best described as looking like a newsreel.The cinematography is not jaw dropping, but
if you know the back-story, it’s remarkable.Rossellini had to overcome such obstacles that you have to admire the
finished product.The blending of film
stocks is a standout feature.Rossellini
had to use what was available.However,
there’s the rub.If you don’t know the
full story behind the production, the movie does not have the same impact.
The
acting is what you would expect from a production like this.Fabrizi is the top performer.His Don Pietro is humane, humorous, and a
hero.He provides the comic relief like
the frying pan silencing.There is also
a whimsical scene involving a naked statue.Without him, the movie would have been too bleak.The rest of the cast is average and many are
playing stereotypes.For a movie of such
consequence, it is perplexing why Rossellini would include such sore thumbs
like the Gestapo chief and the lesbian agent.You would not expect hissable villains.But I suppose if I had lived through the Nazi and fascist days, I might
put a vampirish lesbian and an effeminate torturer in also.
The
themes are basic.Good versus evil.Normal people doing heroic things because the
situation calls for it.Civilians trying
to live their lives in wartime.Freedom
is worth dying for.None of this is
ground-breaking.The plot does not match
the production.If it did, this would be
a masterpiece.As it is, the movie could
have done with more concentration on the more unorthodox elements like the
children saboteurs.
CONCLUSION:Once again I am confronted with a
movie that must be highly rated by critics because of its historical importance
moreso than its actual quality.It is
assuredly a must-see for anyone interested in the history of cinema and
specifically Italian neorealism, but purely as a war movie it is nothing
special.I admire what Rossellini went
through and the movie is truly a great accomplishment.This must have been a large part of the
reasoning by the Military History magazine panel of experts.It could be argued that it is the #25
most important war movie ever made, but you cannot replace” important” with “greatest”
or “best” and even put it in the Top 100.It will not make my list of the 100 Best because I am not judging the
films on importance.I am looking at two
main factors:historical accuracy /
realism and quality.“Rome, Open City”
does not make a case for itself in either area. I would not put it ahead of the other Resistance movies I have reviewed: Army of Crime, Flame and Citron, Black Book, and Army of Shadows (none of which made the Greatest 100). All of those are more entertaining than "Rome, Open City".
For those upset with this review, I am not a trained movie critic and
did not go to film school.However, I am
true to what I call myself and I will not bow to the film intelligentsia.
