User reviews

History has not been kind to the Italian army for it's efforts in WWII, garnering a rather depressing image. Ill-equipped, ill-trained and ill-led, they were trounced by the British in North Africa prior to Rommel and the Afrika Korp's arrival, and later gave up the ghost in their own country with little resistance. So it is interesting to get the viewpoint of that nation on the subject of their part in the war. This film portrays the trials of a division on the front. It dispenses with the traditional war movie clichés, guns blazing, American heroics, you're more than familiar with it... choosing instead to focus more on the lives of the soldiers who have tired of a conflict that is heading nowhere bar the inevitable defeat whilst the British horde their forces. The initial hour covers small tales and little moments that break the boredom of life on the immobile front. An artillery attack here, a swim in the ocean there, a bullet dodged, a mortar shell detonating just far enough away to allow the soldiers to see another day. I enjoy this style of movie, where it does not attempt to tell a grand story, rather give us an insight into how people cope with being alive in such a morbid situation.

The second half of the film sees the British finally assault the Italian lines, which are overwhelmed by the sheer weight of numbers that are brought to bear. The division is over-run and forced to retreat, and no longer is anything relevant to these men but the slim hope of survival, pushing on, hoping to make it home. Ridiculous orders to stand fast come down from Il Duce, far removed from the ravages of desert war. The film becomes a detached, dreamlike affair as the dwindling force stumbles through the dry desert, pushed westward, severely lacking food and water.

This film may also hold the distinction of being the only WWII movie to feature full frontal male nudity, but I can't qualify that comment. Beyond that, this is an excellent movie - devoid of the trappings of Hollywood and presenting the conflict from the viewpoint of a bitter, soul-crushing defeat for the Italians. They may have been over-matched, but they were no different to any other soldier who just wanted to make it to the end of the war.

Top notch.

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.

A very realistic depiction of the famous World War II battle, from the point of view of some common Italian soldiers, this movie lack of any kind of rethoric, nor pacifistic neither heroic. It's something like a good Vietnam movie from American directors, as "Platoon" or "Hamburger Hill". A must for everyone who wants to know more about Italian war in Africa

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

Given its small budget, this is a fine little film about Italian troops abandoned in the face of the British counter attack at El Alamein in late 1942.

More films and books need to be made about this sad chapter in the history of Italy, whose international military reputation is somewhat lower than that of the French.

Italian troops gave no less to their cause than did Germans or the British, the Russians, the Americans, and the Japanese. But because of poor leadership from Mussolini on down, they were forced to surrender in droves, and as much as we don't want to admit it, we Westerners hold those who surrender in pretty low esteem.

This film goes a long way toward correcting the historical record through its touching story, beautiful acting, wonderful art direction, and absolutely stunning cinematography.

The problem with this movie is not so much the movie itself, though the movie does not lack in technical glitches, but rather the historical context in which the story is set. The director tries to tell a story about Italian soldiers in World War Two, suggesting that they are hapless victims of incompetent commanders who basically had them fighting in a hopeless cause, period. This narrow theme produces a two-dimensional story that completely ignores the fundamental reason why the Italians were in the fighting in the first place: to achieve the strategic goals of Adolf Hitler. As a result, this movie is dramatically flat. The Italian soldiers are portrayed as self-sacrificing, suffering and heroic when in fact they were invaders who were brought all their problems on themselves. In an interesting twist, the British are portrayed as faceless automatons who mercilessly drive through the depleted Italian lines, as if it were the British who were the bad guys. That the Italian soldiers were capable of acts of courage on the battlefield is not the question. Rather, the question is why were they fighting in the first place, and any movie, especially a movie that is set in World War Two, that avoids dealing with that question is fundamentally flawed.

"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.

Hey, we are in 2002, we have seen a lot of war movies like this.

Kubrick's "Paths of glory" in the fifties, and then all those movies about the war in Vietnam. Ok, it is not bad, but it's easy to make a movie like this after Kubrick, Coppola, and so on. The only new thing here is the soundtrack. I was expecting something more by Emilio Solfrizzi (Lt. Fiore), but Favino and Briguglia were ok. 6/10

This is a good movie of men in war, not a war movie Hollywood style. It shows the madness of war and (at the beginning at least) reminds me of the surreal atmosphere of another great movie, "Il deserto dei tartari". El Alamein - Linea di Fuoco is a movie that gives at last some justice to the brave men who fought and died in Africa for their country, at that time led by a dangerous gambler, not because they were fascists (those stayed far from the battlefront) but because they felt it was their duty. They didn't lack courage or skills but the means of more advanced industrial powers - the German-Anglo-Saxon reputation in warfare being largely due to superior production and logistics. Showing how Italy could fall in love for "Il Duce" was clearly out of this movie scope and reach, but perhaps it will help reading again this quotation attributed to a world expert in this field, Herr Hermann Goering: "People can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country". In our days, our leaders do not even have to show us we are being attacked - see headlines for "preemptive war", "Iraq", "Iran"...

Spectacular battles and noisy wartime action by Italian craftsman director Enzo Monteleone giving credibility enough to his story. June 1942, as general Erwin Rommel swept toward the Nile , battling General Montgomery's troops , but the fall of Egypt and the capture of the Suez canal seems inevitable . Italian and German advance units raced toward Alejandria . Mussolini had given explicit orders : The Italians must arrive first ! . In this one , the Italians and Germans, united in a difficult Alliance , fight the British in the North Afican desert . This is a breathtaking flick in which desert war is seen through the eyes of a simple Italian soldier , Serra (Paolo Briguglia) , an university student from Palermo who volunteers in 1942 to battle in Africa. He is assigned to the Pavia Division on the southern line in Egypt. Along with Soldier Serra , appearing other protagonists such as Serg. Rizzo (Pierfrancesco Favino), Sold. Spagna (Luciano Scarpa) and lieutenat Fiore (Emilio Solfrizzi). Meantime , Rommel and the Axis forces are bogged down ; it's October, the British prepare an offensive. At first, boredom, starvation, heat, hunger, and thirst bedevil the Italians ; things go wrong when the Brits attack, and there's no luck , bravery or heroism in death. Eventually, it's retreat in confusion and mayhem , all of them take a last walk toward Italian headquarter . Montgomery's Iron Back 8th Army ... Rommel's Crack Africa Korps ... they met head on and tore the earth apart !'

This movie gets lots of action , intense drama , impressive battles , crossfire , gunplay and explosion . A mostly unknown Italian cast of fine actors give decent interpretations . Here the Italians are the good guys and the British are the bad guys . While the battle itself is abridged and perhaps over-simplified to focus on the Italian division, that's perhaps best for the sake of narrative, character development, and making the emotional impact as strong as possible. It displays several extras and tanks , in fact , the production received help from Morocco Ministry of defense , beng shot on location in Morocco and Lacio , Rome , Italy . It displays colorful and evocative cinematography by Daniele Nanuzzi , son of prestigious cameraman Armando Nanuzzi . The motion picture was well and professionally directed by Enzo Monteleone.

The picture is based on the real battles , the true events is as follows : Alamein in WWII are two decisive battles in the western desert , north Egypt , in 1942 resulting in British victory over Axis forces under Field Marshal Erwin Rommel : 1- 27 July 1942 the British 8th Army under General Sir Claude Auchinleck held off the German and Italian forces . Neither side can be said to have won , but the British had the strategic advantage of short supply lines and so could reinforce faster than Germans . 23 Oct-4 Nov 1942 General Bernard Montgomery launched a diversionary British attack in the south , aiming to draw Axis forces into the area so that the main attack in the north could cut two corridors through the extensive minefields , enabling British armoured divisions to pass through and exploit the gaps . Progress was slow however and Montgomery decided to change tactics to fight what he called a 'crumbling battle' constantly switching the main emphasis to chip away at Rommel's front line and keep him guessing. Australian Division attacked along the coastal road , drawing the Axis forces toward them . Montgomery promptly launched a fresh attack further south, forcing the German armour to react in what became a major tank battle . By 3 Nov Rommel had only 30 serviceable tanks in action and on the next day began organizing his withdrawal. He was able to disengage and escape as the British were hampered by heavy rain and shortage fuel .

How to make a film in Italy.

A script that has anything original or "important": war is bad, that's it. But it's a "liberal" point of view, so it's good and it's enough.

The same actors seen in every Italian film adding the usual comedian out of a night show (Favino) to have a "known one", and an homage to "bigger names" of the director's circle, giving a cameo to Orlando (Moretti's best one) and Cederna (Salvatore's own).

Bad acting: in Italian, every actor murmured in some local "patois", and hardly you can understand what they say. That's a cliché of every Italian war movie, that Italian soldiers uttered strong local accents: war movie or comic film. Not else.

Even budget wasn't SO low, no attempt to research what's the right uniforms, vehicles, terms, historical details, as none of the blue-nosed liberal producers wants to talk with the "militarist" who collect or study military history.

Spice all with "I'm an artist" attitude, and you have a typical Italian movie.

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.

It is a motto engraved by the Italian Bersaglieri on a memorial stone near El Alamein. In my opinion, as an Italian, I think this film is perfectly expressive of the sentiment of the battle of El Alamein and of the value of our soldiers (now completely forgotten) sent to fight a war that everyone considers unjust.

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).