The Battle of El-Alamein (1968)
Out of the blue comes an Italian produced film which "highlights" the Italian involvement in North Africa during the early days of World War II, most notably during The Battle of El-Alamein. British forces mounted an offensive against Rommel and the Axis forces, and although Rommel retreated, the Italian forces did not, and were subsequently decimated.Now really, I don't think this film's intent is to somehow "celebrate" Italy's involvement with the Reich. That much is clear, especially as the film goes on and the Nazi powers, most notably Rommel himself, are portrayed as caring about nothing but their own well-being... leaving the Italians high-and-dry so to speak while preserving their own ranks.
I think this picture was made simply to pay some sort of homage and respect to the soldiers who did what they were told to do. Yeah, that doesn't make it any better, but its a noble sentiment at least.
As for the picture itself, well, I have to say its actually rather dull. Sure there are lots of battle scenes and the like, but overall it just plays out like a less-exciting docu-drama. The focus lies on an Italian squadron, headed by a seemingly-poorly-trained and headstrong Lieutenant Giorgio Borri (Frederick Stafford) who learns in the end to stop being such a typical officer type and winds up sacrificing himself for the preservation of the rest of his squad.
Strangely enough I couldn't tell if I was watching a bad dub-job or if the audio was that badly synced to the picture. If you've ever seen the Italian westerns with Eastwood like "The Good Bad and the Ugly" etc. it sort of looks like that. To top it off the soundtrack takes on a distinctly Italian flavor, also along the same lines as those pictures. Not your typical classical fare anyway.
Overall I can't say I enjoyed it much, but it did provide an interesting perspective that I hadn't considered before. And for that I will recommend watching The Battle of El-Alamein just once.
Technorati Tags: war movie review, the battle of el-alamein, world war ii 2, italy, north africa, rommel, 1942
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