A historical premises.... After the armistice of the 8 th September 1943, Italys defeated army literally collapsed.Italy effectively had switched sides in the world war alliances,allied with USA against Nazi Germany,leaving many Italian army units in the lurch....and the Nazi German army invasion a few weeks later! Some units joined the the Anglo-Americans and valiantly fought with them,a few more joined the Fachist militias of the Salò regime in Northern Italy sustained by Nazi troops which together perpetuated massacres of civilians. However a large number of Italian army units,just melted like snow in a sunny spring day,disappearing or rather deserting in mass,prefering like the title of the film "..to return home". The films spirit is basically about a strong desire of war weary soldiers to return back home to their families. Something which apparently would seem an easy task....but not in this film!!
This film retaining a deep tragic undertone has also some hilarious scenes of the more tragi-comical style,which was typical of the post neo-realistic film scripts of Italian cinema in the 1950's and 1960's,(The best period of Italian cinema).An absolute "must see film" for Italo-philes and fans of Italian cinema.Strangely enough,this film has never been much appreciated in Italy,and it is hard to find as video-cassette both for renting or buying.My vote 9.
