Les Cosaques

Considering the time and place this film was made, it is an amazingly sensitive and even-handed look at a rarely-seen period in history.

It is the mid-1800s, and Russia is expanding southeastwards into the lands of the Chechen people. Jemal, son of Shamil the Chechen leader, is sent to Saint Petersburg as a hostage and guarantee of a temporary peace treaty. While there, Jemal sees the power of Russia and falls in love with a Russian woman. When Shamil wants to make war again for the freedom of his people, his son is torn between old family loyalties and his understanding that his father's nation cannot stand against the power of a country equipped with modern arms.

This could be handled as a simple struggle-against-oppression soap opera, but it isn't. Both sides are shown with nuances of sensitivity totally unexpected in this type of film. In an especially powerful scene, the Chechen artillery bombards the Russian army's camp as the soldiers are celebrating mass. As the shells burst among the troops and bugles call them to arms, a soldier is hit and falls to the ground. In a moment that speaks for all the faceless warriors that have fallen in countless war movies, the dying soldier speaks to a priest holding him, "Father! I can't die. I have children..." A moment of humanity deeper than that shown by many more celebrated (and pretentious?) films!

This movie is also interesting for its depiction of the Russian campaigns in Central Asia in the 1850s. The Russian soldiers in their white tunics are straight out of the paintings of Vereshchagin, the famous war artist, and the Chechen warriors (the "Cossacks" of the film's title) look realistic in their long coats with bullets tucked in holders sewed to their pockets. Shamil was a real person, and is still a hero to the people of Chechnaya. He eventually made peace with the Russians when he saw that his struggle was doomed to failure.

I saw this film some twenty years ago on late-night TV, but it has stayed with me because of its rare subject and its unusual humanity and sense of fair play to the sides portrayed in the drama it shows.

Some time ago, I'd watched the above-average peplum THE MONGOLS (1961), co-directed by Andre' De Toth and action sequences helmed by Riccardo Freda; back then, I had written that it was probably made in the wake of THE VIKINGS (1958) and that more epics in this vein followed – with the film under review being one of them.

Interestingly, the father/son antagonism plot line here anticipates another favorite Hollywood spectacle – TARAS BULBA (1962) – though that was actually based on a famous Nikolai Gogol novel which had already been filmed at least twice before; anyway, the results in this case – the narrative being slightly unbalanced by pageantry and local color – were rather patchy (though not without interest). The latter, in fact, is mostly due to surprisingly nuanced leads (Edmund Purdom and John Drew Barrymore, both ex-Hollywood alumni who eventually became peplum regulars). The dual romance for the young protagonist (the Cossack leader's offspring had been bartered during an earlier struggle and, in the interim, received his education at a Russian military academy) is something of a cliché, but it's not too intrusive under the circumstances. In any event, coming into play towards the end – when Barrymore is returned to his people so as to dissuade Purdom from keeping up his "holy war" – the girlish rivalry complements the tense situation between father and son; besides, with Barrymore having at one point saved the hated Czar's life, the Cossack leader publicly disowned him in favor of a devoted warrior/follower…who, naturally, doesn't appreciate now the unexpected re-appearance on the scene of the 'prodigal son'!

The film is typically climaxed by a sweeping battle – with the Cossacks, greatly outnumbered, ending up decimated – which is quite well done as these things go; however, it's undeniably enhanced by the inevitably tragic (and commendably abrupt) denouement – as Purdom is forced to shoot down Barrymore (whom he perceives a coward for wanting to throw in the towel)…but soon realizes it has been a desperate, unfortunate and merely futile gesture! By the way, THE COSSACKS has some notable credentials: co-scriptwriter Damiano Damiani and cinematographer Massimo Dallamano would both graduate to a director's position, ditto camera operator Sergio D' Offizi became a d.p. and work on such interesting and stylish fare as DON'T TORTURE A DUCKLING (1972); besides, the supporting cast includes the likes of "special guest star" Massimo Girotti (from OSSESSIONE [1943] and THEOREM [1968], appearing briefly as Alexander II), Giorgia Moll (from CONTEMPT [1963], as Barrymore's Russian girlfriend) and Pierre Brice (the hero of the fine Gothic horror MILL OF THE STONE WOMEN [1960], playing Moll's childhood friend and Barrymore's military companion).