El Alamein: The Line of Fire
2002 | 1h 57m
War seen through the eyes of Serra, a university student from Palermo who volunteers in 1942 to fight in Africa. He is assigned to the Pavia Division on the southern line in Egypt. Rommel and the Axis forces are bogged down; it's October, the British prepare an offensive. At first, boredom, heat, hunger, and thirst bedevil the Italians; then the Brits attack, and there's no luck or heroism in death. Finally, it's retreat in confusion. Serra, his sergeant Rizzo, and his lieutenant Fiori take a last walk toward home. It's said that each soldier gets three miracles; when Serra's are used up, what then?
Storyline
War seen through the eyes of Serra, a university student from Palermo who volunteers in 1942 to fight in Africa. He is assigned to the Pavia Division on the southern line in Egypt. Rommel and the Axis forces are bogged down; it's October, the British prepare an offensive. At first, boredom, heat, hunger, and thirst bedevil the Italians; then the Brits attack, and there's no luck or heroism in death. Finally, it's retreat in confusion. Serra, his sergeant Rizzo, and his lieutenant Fiori take a last walk toward home. It's said that each soldier gets three miracles; when Serra's are used up, what then?
Cast & Crew
- E
Enzo Monteleone
Director
Paolo Briguglia
Sold. Serra
Pierfrancesco Favino
Serg. Rizzo
Luciano Scarpa
Sold. Spagna
Emilio Solfrizzi
Ten. Fiore
Thomas Trabacchi
Capor. De Vita
Giuseppe Cederna
Cap. medico
Roberto Citran
Colonnello
Recent Reviews
- CCinemaSerf★ 7
"Serra" (Paolo Briguglia) is an impressionable young man who has volunteered to join the Italian Army fighting the British forces in North Africa. His lieutenant "Flore" (Emilio Solfrizzi) and his sergeant "Rizzo" (Pierfrancesco Favino) are both battle-weary and only thinly veil their disdain for this man who has actually, and probably rather naively, chosen to join this theatre of war where they are pretty significantly outgunned. He soon turns out to be a useful member of a dwindling team, though, and for much of the rest of this film we are shown just how the desert conflict could have unfolded from a perspective rarely seen. Rather than just rehash the more established stories like "Tobruk" or "Desert Rats" etc, this takes a more personal slant by introducing us to these men in a much more intimate style. Their missions aren't so much about crawling between enemy lines to sabotage things but are more about just how these men established a bond amidst what was, for a lot of the early stages of the film, more a war of attrition as they struggled to sustain their morale and their health whilst anticipating the onslaught that is bound to come and for which they are poorly equipped. What also helps this film stand out a bit more is it's surprising lack of jingoism. It deals with death and the horrors of war in a much less sensational way than in many of it's Holly/Pinewood style counterparts and I thought the dynamic between Briguglia and Rizzo worked increasingly well as the film becomes a more intimate human study. That said, the last half an hour still sees the production shift the emphasis to the more brutal aspects of war and those scenes present a convincing look at the largely indiscriminate perils of artillery and tank-based warfare with plenty of pyrotechnics and combat effects. If you are into the war genre at all, then this makes for quite a contrasting watch to what we might be used to and by not shying away from the mortality, it's actually quite poignant too.
