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The Desert of the Tartars

The Desert of the Tartars (1976)

October. 29,1976
|
7.5
| Drama History

Lieutenant Giovanni Drogo is assigned to the old Bastiani border fortress where he expects an imminent attack by nomadic fearsome Tartars.

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Moustroll
1976/10/29

Good movie but grossly overrated

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ChicDragon
1976/10/30

It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

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AshUnow
1976/10/31

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

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Hattie
1976/11/01

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

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Kirpianuscus
1976/11/02

if you know the novel, the film could be a correct adaptation. if you do not know the book, the film could be boring, too slow, too long, only an experiment. in fact, the truth is at the middle. the film is more than an adaptation but exposure of the point of view of director about the isolation of man in contemporary society. the purpose is served by the great cast, the desolated landscapes, the expectation as way to survive, the construction of the dramatic end. it is translation of a deep feeling and the book of Buzatti seems be, in many scenes, the perfect tool. so, it is not fair to define it using the expectations. because something does it special. maybe, the reflection in yourself. or the long expectations. or the sensation to see a Kafka works.

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nephihaha
1976/11/03

I've only ever had the chance to see this film once in a cinema years ago but it's stuck with me. On the face of it, the plot is not very interesting- soldiers holed up in a remote fort in a non-place waiting for an enemy who never turns up... but the locations are incredible, the score is by Ennio Morricone and there is a constant tension between the characters and within themselves... they are just waiting around for the war to begin. The real war is within themselves.

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museumofdave
1976/11/04

Hollywood tends to make films about what happens "outside" a person, about action, about guns and explosions, and about rapid-fire cutting and dialog; many European filmmakers do just the opposite and develop "interior" stories, about what goes on inside a person's mind, about how their actions are driven by their environment; the environment in this little-known but complex desert epic is an ancient fort built on the edge of two countries where nothing much seems to happen, but where the inhabitants wait...and wait...and where a new officer arrives hoping to make his mark. Many folks will find the lack of direct action frustrating, as this is a character study more than anything else--but what characters! And what an outstanding group of actors--and subtle music by Ennio Morricone--and some fascinating cinematography.

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MARIO GAUCI
1976/11/05

This is the first Valerio Zurlini film I have watched and, ironically, it was his last (and arguably most ambitious) undertaking but which can hold its own alongside its contemporaries among the classics of World Cinema; for the record, I also own THE GIRLS OF SAN FREDIANO (1954) and THE CAMP FOLLOWERS (1965) on VHS and had erased GIRL WITH A SUITCASE (1960) - without even watching it! - in anticipation of its 2-Disc Set release by No Shame (which incorporates Zurlini's VIOLENT SUMMER [1959]).Anyhow, THE DESERT OF THE TARTARS is practically an intellectual, existentialist version of "Beau Geste" in which very little actually happens during its 2½ hour running-time (and, thus, may seem boring to the uninitiated) but, for more adventurous film fans, however, it's a mesmerizing and truly evocative experience with a strong anti-war statement to make. Unsurprisingly perhaps, it is hardly ever shown on Italian TV - with the most recent occasion being on the very last day of my 3-month stay in Hollywood late last year, which meant that I had to miss it (although I was already aware of No Shame's 2-Disc Set, which was released around the same time).The cast is made up of a once-in-a-lifetime roster of international film stars: Vittorio Gassman, Giuliano Gemma, Helmut Griem, Philippe Noiret (who died last week, alas), Jacques Perrin (who has the lead role and also did duty as one of the producers), Francisco Rabal, Fernando Rey, Laurent Terzieff, Jean-Louis Trintignant and Max von Sydow! Incredibly, it's Gemma who stands out in a rare villainous turn as the sadistic Major - though Max von Sydow as the disgraced Captain and Vittorio Gassman as the ageing Commander of the Fort are quietly impressive in their own way. While the first half is deliberately-paced, eliciting its own particular ambiance and etching all the various characters, by comparison, the latter stages are somewhat rushed - as the years fly by and the fort changes its command several times, so as to bring the story to its main theme - that of the remote company, seen constantly drilling in the hope of an attack by enemy forces which, when it finally arrives, they seem incapable of dealing with adequately! The beautiful cinematography of the splendid Iranian desert location (with the interiors filmed in Rome) is by Luciano Tovoli and Ennio Morricone's score, rendered in its entirety on the CD found in No Shame's SE DVD, is suitably majestic and melancholic. The supplements, then, aren't prolific but quite nicely done nevertheless - though only Tovoli's 35-minute interview goes into any real detail about the making of the film (and even that includes copious references to his collaborations with other Italian masters such as Michelangelo Antonioni and Dario Argento).

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