La Grande Guerra (1959)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

La Grande Guerra (1959) – M. Monicelli

A look at the Italian army in WWI.  We follow Vittorio Gassman and Alberto Sordi from the point of being drafted onward to their actual experience of trench warfare and combat in the streets, small villages, farmhouses, and fields.  As in most other war films, death is swift and omnipresent.  Still, there is camaraderie among the troops and Gassman and Sordi are the chief slackers/jokers, always trying to stay out of harm’s way.  So, the tone is often light and even comic, which makes the moments of pathos that much more intense (and there are many, often at the end of a scene).  War films seem to invite an episodic structure and that is also true here; our heroes encounter a variety of typical situations (on leave in a small village, sent to requisition supplies, volunteered for hazardous duty, trapped behind enemy lines, etc.).  The sets and action are impressively naturalistic with solid direction by Mario Monicelli (who also did the excellent heist comedy, Big Deal on Madonna Street, 1958). Naturally, as the film closes, we are left to ponder “to what end?”  Nominated for the Best Foreign Film Oscar.  Worth a look.