Far too long, this movie goes nowhere and basically says nothing for over two hours... The only positive aspect of this film is a very faithful recreation of the atmosphere of the 40's, the costumes where excellent, the make-up, set decoration, etc. where all very good. Unfortunately, that is all that is good in this movie, everything else is far below average, almost senseless. The endless wanderings of Johnny through the Langhe region make no sense, there is no plan, no purpose in what he and his companions are doing. If this is what the Italian partisans where really like during the war, I pity all of those who died for no reason... I doubt this was the case though.
What I believe probably happened here is that the director tried to make a faithful adaptation for the screen of a novel which is almost impossible to film. I haven't read the book, but I can imagine it must be similar in the way it is constructed to a novel by Marcel Proust. By this I mean a lot of introspective thinking, endless depictions of a state of mind, almost no narrative or plot whatsoever... Well, this is fine in a well written book, but is almost impossible to successfully transpose onto film. This novel should probably have best been left on the bookshelf where it belongs.
What I believe probably happened here is that the director tried to make a faithful adaptation for the screen of a novel which is almost impossible to film. I haven't read the book, but I can imagine it must be similar in the way it is constructed to a novel by Marcel Proust. By this I mean a lot of introspective thinking, endless depictions of a state of mind, almost no narrative or plot whatsoever... Well, this is fine in a well written book, but is almost impossible to successfully transpose onto film. This novel should probably have best been left on the bookshelf where it belongs.