By Arthur Tiersky - August 9, 2010
Filmmaker Ari Taub's "Last Letters from Monte Rosa" is about as low impact a war movie as they come, a roughly eighty minute-long drama that eschews the you-are-there intensity of "Saving Private Ryan" or "Das Boot" (the latter clearly a thematic influence) for the more relaxed, episodic feel of Samuel Fuller's "The Big Red One."
Like "Boot" and "Letters from Iwo Jima," “Letters” takes on the formidable challenge of humanizing the nominal villains of that war, namely, the Germans and the Italians. But most refreshing is the revelation of Italy as a country divided against itself during this time—the enemy on the ground is not the Allied forces, but the partisan Italian villagers who are rebelling against the German occupation and Mussolini's rule. This creates a difficult conflict of interest for the Italian soldiers, led by war-weary lieutenant Gianini (the rugged Fabio Sartor,...
Filmmaker Ari Taub's "Last Letters from Monte Rosa" is about as low impact a war movie as they come, a roughly eighty minute-long drama that eschews the you-are-there intensity of "Saving Private Ryan" or "Das Boot" (the latter clearly a thematic influence) for the more relaxed, episodic feel of Samuel Fuller's "The Big Red One."
Like "Boot" and "Letters from Iwo Jima," “Letters” takes on the formidable challenge of humanizing the nominal villains of that war, namely, the Germans and the Italians. But most refreshing is the revelation of Italy as a country divided against itself during this time—the enemy on the ground is not the Allied forces, but the partisan Italian villagers who are rebelling against the German occupation and Mussolini's rule. This creates a difficult conflict of interest for the Italian soldiers, led by war-weary lieutenant Gianini (the rugged Fabio Sartor,...
- 8/9/2010
- by Screen Comment
- Screen Comment
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