Le navire blanc

This is a very unusual war film as there is practically no war in it at all. Everything happens at sea, there is no drama, no story, it appears as a downright documentary, but after the battle with many casualties, the film takes an interesting turn, moving over to a hospital ship, and for this later part of the film it is worth watching indeed. There are some very fine sequences here, which actually touch the heart, concentrating on close-ups on the casualties and their nurses, and here you see the later famous Rossellini rising with Italian neo-realism. There are no professional actors here, it is all taken directly from reality, combining a very strict documentary with a very human document. There were quite a number of Italian war films that all focus on the human side of the war, that is the back side of it, like."Il treno crociato" 1943. Although not an impressive film, the last sequence will fill your heart, and that impression at least will last.