Many Wars Ago

In 1916 on the Italian-Austrian front a division has been attacking the same hill for months. After every failure General Leone issues the same order and explains the losses as indiscipline; retreating units are fired on by their own artillery and officers who object are shot. Francesco Rosi adapted the book in which Emilio Lussu described what he lived through at the front. The target is not war but command, and the film shows how orders to die are issued in a form that looks rational. When it opened in Italy a case was brought against it for insulting the army. The trenches and the advances up the hill are built at real scale and the sound design keeps the artillery constantly present. Who it is for: viewers who like anti-war cinema and Italian political film. Who it is not for: anyone looking for a hopeful line, since the film is closed from beginning to end.