El Alamein - La linea del fuoco

Here in the US, we mostly get the Hollywood view of World War II: a glorified, heroic image. That makes it all the more interesting when we get the view from another country. A view that we rarely get is the Italian one. That's exactly what we have in "El Alamein - La linea del fuoco" ("The Line of Fire" in English).

Basically, the gist of the movie is that war is hell. The focus is a platoon in 1942 Egypt. Ordered by Mussolini to fight heroically for their country - and die heroically, if they must - these men soon find out that there's no glory in this endeavor. Not only do they experience all sorts of hell, but they realize that - in the words of one cadet, the dead didn't die heroically, they're just dead.

"The Thin Red Line" presented itself as the counterbalance to "Saving Private Ryan". The latter drew controversy for making heroes out of its protagonists. The former turned out to be three hours of nothing (as have all of Terrence Malick's movies during the past thirty years). Enzo Monteleone's movie is the proper counterbalance. Definitely check it out (you might have to find a neighborhood video rental place, since I don't know if it's available on streaming).

"El Alamein - The Line of Fire"; war movie of 2002, directed by Enzo Monteleone and based on the true testimonies of the Italian veterans of the Africa campaign, during the Second World War. The movie shows the various aspects of trench life, with which, the soldiers of the division: "Pavia" had to "fight", such as: hunger, thirst, heat, lack of reinforcements and ammunition, the sense of abandonment and frustration. One aspect that I really appreciated in this movie is the fact that the plot focuses on the lives of soldiers and not on fascism and its politics. However, there are some flaws about special effects and some combat scenes, but all in all they are negligible errors. This movie is great for those who are passionate about history and for those who do not know the story of Italian soldiers during the Africa campaign. I recommend you look at it, see you and see you next review.

The Italian point of view is sufficiently rare about WW2 to be noticed. You had to come back to the late sixties and early seventies, in the italian film industry of course - not French nor German - to find such a scheme. EL ALAMEIN directed by Gioirgio Ferroni, starring Frederick Stafford was the best example. But more recently, I don't remember any other film. Maybe there were Italian films in the fifties and sixties, in black and white, directed by the likes of Dino Risi or any other great director, in a comic and tragic way, thru absurd situations, to describe the poverty row of the Italian Army during WW2. I am sure there were movies like this one, but treated differently. I am not a specialist of this kind of Italian films from the sixties, sorry folks. To summarize, this feature from 2002 is definitely worth watching for whom wishes to know how war was for the poor Italian army. An underrated army where lack of courage from the simple soldiers was certainly not the main cause. But instead of those who commanded them. Good acting and waesome directing, so accurate and didactic too. I think that was the purpose.

a very crude, beautiful, rarely near-truth war movie, rhetoricless. it reflects the story of italian war drama, fought against allied extrapowered forces. the italian armed support of that campain is usually undervaluated by historian and worldwide literature to favour of little contribution given by rommel's africakorp. I think they have right to obtain a more correct history-revision to give truth to the truth. the movie soundtrack is very exotic and fashinating, so you can feel the right atmosphere of desert land. a particular appreciation for the use of italian realistic vintages motorcycles, trucks, guns and a beautiful FIAT 508C militarizzata (command-car)in the right camouflage. the movie has given a simple, real chronicle of the time. enjoy yourself-bye

No heroism. No victory in the end. Only the uneasy feeling of the omnipresent heat, the lack of anything else required for whatever war you're fighting and a growing feeling of despair. Yet the story touched me because it was brought in a way that made it quite believable. The optimistic student who goes to war in the belief that the Italian army will be in Caïro in no time at all, because he believed the public opinion and the promises of Il Duce back home like everybody else did. I must hereby add, that that feeling of believing the story was very much fed by the fact that in my opinion the director and his camera crew knew exactly what they were doing and I also would like to give a big compliment to the casting people. Maybe over the years I have seen better war movies, but not many and certainly not from Italy.