A remarkable first film, made by Amadei from his own real life experience of going to Iraq in 2003 to be an assistant director on a film, and almost winding up dead.
The war sequences are terrific and powerful in execution; harrowing, cinematic, real and yet stylized, largely seen from a subjective camera.
The film is quite moving in the end, and Amadei is willing to let himself (played very well by Vincio Marchioni) come off as a flawed, real human being. Re-examining one's self and one's traumatic experience with a sense of clarity, but without losing emotion would be a challenge for any artist, but as a first feature it is very special.
I also liked that the film wasn't afraid to be a very disturbing film about the realities of war, but still have a comedic edge at time. Life is both tragic and funny, but rare is the film that can walk both sides of that street.
Once in a while the style gets a bit overdone, to the point of breaking a sense of reality, but that's a small fly in a very rich ointment.
I hope Amadei's immense talent can translate to telling stories other than his own.
