Tobruk with Mario Monicelli Events in Libya in the Second World War are not well known. But there were many deaths. Mario Monicelli devoted his last feature film to events directly related to the battles for Tobruk.
His vision of war is neither Coppola's tragic opera nor Kubrick's nervous discharges. Mario Monicelli creates his own microcosm - a few soldiers, their superiors and a priest. And around the desert and invisible enemies. And men cook in the cauldron of their fears, hopes and deeds. The sad is next to the funny, the secondary takes the place of the main. This world is true and resembles the paintings of Peter Todorovsky.
The feature of the tape is that Monicelli does not focus on any hero. Attention is shifted from one soldier to another. Only Father Simeone (Michele Placido), especially not protruding, is in the hottest points of the narrative.
And there's plenty of them in the tape... It is worth remembering that all the countries involved in the war were formerly the Roman Empire. And as gracefully shown the scene of marriage – the priest decides to exceed his powers and marry the dead soldier with his pregnant girlfriend (who is not in the unit at all). A small scene of a local young resident looks incredibly erotic due to the context. In many ways, this is the merit of the director, but Moran Atias in the role of Aisha is remembered for a long time. By the way, Moran Atisa is the same lady who played Mother Lacrimarum in the third part of the trilogy about the mothers of Dario Argento.
And there will be an expressive confession before death and a lot of funerals.
For Mario Monicelli, this is definitely not the best picture. But he tries to find personal anti-war poetry in the ridiculous life of the army. And that's what he does.
7 out of 10