Quite an interesting, intellectual film. It beautifully captures the landscapes of the Langhe hills, as well as the faces, clothing and attitudes of their inhabitants, and the general atmosphere of partisan warfare.
However, the director remains almost imprisoned in his attempt to transpose Fenoglio's book into a film. He tends to portray too many isolated parts of the book with strict accuracy and so misses the substance. Some crucial themes are just hinted at and almost impossible to catch for a viewer who didn't read the book: the partisans' disorganization, the feuds between communist and moderate bands, the reluctance of the latter to engage in any serious fight, Johnny's critical relationship towards his comrades that moves him to switch allegiance from one group to another. Furthermore, the fighting scenes are decontextualized beyond the point; for example, the partisans' desperate effort to melt through the lines of the major Fascist encirclement does not express the drama conveyed by Fenoglio's intense description, and is almost reduced to a fighting scene like any other.
The film tends to concentrate on one message: the boredom and meaninglessness of war, and especially of partisan warfare, dominated by long periods of inactivity suddenly broken by abrupt, mostly unexpected shootouts against an often invisible enemy. In a different cultural context this might be a powerful message, but in present cinematography it seems to me too conventional and politically correct to deserve any special praise. Where is a war film that doesn't strive to convey some kind of pacifist undercurrent? In the same way, Johnny's silent, introverted idealism embodies a contrasting point to the general atmosphere of monotony and purposelessness. It risks to turn the film into still another idealization of Antifascist resistance and the protagonist into the stereotype of the tormented hero, full of misgivings and yet willing to overcome his doubts and problems to advance the cause of good and see that justice is finally done. If you want to build a Proustian mood please do not warp it subtly in its opposite by appending some redeeming ideological mumbo jumbo to it.
A remarkable film to watch for the patient viewer, but do yourself a favor and watch it cum grano salis.
However, the director remains almost imprisoned in his attempt to transpose Fenoglio's book into a film. He tends to portray too many isolated parts of the book with strict accuracy and so misses the substance. Some crucial themes are just hinted at and almost impossible to catch for a viewer who didn't read the book: the partisans' disorganization, the feuds between communist and moderate bands, the reluctance of the latter to engage in any serious fight, Johnny's critical relationship towards his comrades that moves him to switch allegiance from one group to another. Furthermore, the fighting scenes are decontextualized beyond the point; for example, the partisans' desperate effort to melt through the lines of the major Fascist encirclement does not express the drama conveyed by Fenoglio's intense description, and is almost reduced to a fighting scene like any other.
The film tends to concentrate on one message: the boredom and meaninglessness of war, and especially of partisan warfare, dominated by long periods of inactivity suddenly broken by abrupt, mostly unexpected shootouts against an often invisible enemy. In a different cultural context this might be a powerful message, but in present cinematography it seems to me too conventional and politically correct to deserve any special praise. Where is a war film that doesn't strive to convey some kind of pacifist undercurrent? In the same way, Johnny's silent, introverted idealism embodies a contrasting point to the general atmosphere of monotony and purposelessness. It risks to turn the film into still another idealization of Antifascist resistance and the protagonist into the stereotype of the tormented hero, full of misgivings and yet willing to overcome his doubts and problems to advance the cause of good and see that justice is finally done. If you want to build a Proustian mood please do not warp it subtly in its opposite by appending some redeeming ideological mumbo jumbo to it.
A remarkable film to watch for the patient viewer, but do yourself a favor and watch it cum grano salis.