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Desert of the Tartars (The) AKA Il Deserto dei Tartari (1976)
R0 - America - No Shame Films US Review written by and copyright: Jari Kovalainen (3rd April 2006). |
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The Film
 The acclaimed novel “The Tartar Steppe (Il Deserto dei Tartari - 1940)” by author Dino Buzzati was probably considered impossible to adapt for the movie screen at first, due to its complex and slow storytelling and challenging locations. The French actor (and co-producer of the film) Jacques Perrin owned the rights to the book, and was eager to make a film from it. He collaborated with Italian director/writer Valerio Zurlini, with whom he had made a few movies already in the early 1960s. The result was something unique, and some powerful filmmaking, with stunning cinematography by Luciano Tovoli as well as solid performances by several great European actors at the time. The film tells the story of a young officer, who - fresh from the military academy after 3 years - receives his first assignment from “His Majesty's Army”. Lieutenant Drogo (Jacques Perrin) will have to report to the military station of “Fort Bastiano”, located on the remote border of “North Kingdom” (apparently part of the “Austro-Hungarian Empire”) sometime before “World War I”. The exact time and the place is not really that important, since the film can be partly considered as a metaphor for all wars, with a wide range of human emotions surrounding the soldiers during the long wait for the enemy. Drogo is full of pride and idealism when he´s riding to Bastiano with his horse and clean unform, but when he finally reaches his destination, he begins to see the true nature of the people and their spirit at this distant fortress. From the outside it looks almost deserted; an abandoned old fortress surrounded by ruins of some ancient city - with only mountains and desert to be seen, no matter which direction you´ll look in. On the inside however, it´s still living, with daily military codes amongst the soldiers and officers, the latter with fancy dinners and servants. The film focuses on the life of the officers, who are there to lead the defense, if the attack of their enemy, mainly the Tartars, comes. Will they ever actually attack, or whether there will ever be at least a glimpse of this “enemy”, is another matter. Drogo soon discovers that among the very formal dinners and discrete manners among the officers, there´s a wide range of frustrated emotions going on deep inside of them. For years now, they have been waiting for the invisible enemy, looking at the distance; observing, imagining, hoping that something would finally happen, anything to save them from complete boredom. With their pride and commitment as soldiers, they feel empty and hollow inside, capable of doing nothing but wait and be still prepared with a series of military exercises. For many of them, the spirit is already gone. There´s also something in the dusty and sandy air surrounding the fortress, that can make people very ill - like the old walls would be dying, trying to take some of the soldiers with them. The only hope now would be the attack of the Tartars, to bring back at least some of the bride for them as soldiers, and also as human beings, since then they would be useful to their country and to their leaders. With battle, they would find their spirit again. They would be men again. Will this battle ever come? “The Desert of the Tartars” is a mesmerizing film in many ways, since it really goes deep into the heart of the human nature of the soldiers far away from home, exploring their inner thoughts during the very uncertain and also hostile times. It´s also a surreal tale (“Kafka-esque story” as some have called it) of a group of people defending a deserted border from what appears to be an invisible enemy. It´s showing how differently people deal with the feelings of extreme frustration and isolation, and still trying to feel important and useful. These soldiers also feel fear, which they can´t face until the real battle is fought. Among the wide range of quality actors, Max von Sydow does a great job of sadden faced Captain Hortiz, who has seen the mysterious white horse in the desert. In the role of Major Mattis, Giuliano Gemma (in his numerous Spaghetti westerns, often billed as “Montgomery Wood”) is a mean spirited officer yearning for a battle, who even ends up killing one well meaning soldier outside the fortress, dealing with a minor mutiny after that by his soldiers. As Doctor Rovin, Jean-Louis Trintignant does his best to help Drogo to get a transfer to another station, probably seeing that it´s not too late for Drogo to keep his pride and do a more useful job somewhere else. It´s already too late for many other officers, including Doctor Rovin. To many of these men, dying in battle would be a better option than to die slowly inside the old walls, whilst waiting for nothing. Drogo still has some spirit left, but for how long, since he´s getting ill and also frustrated when his transfer doesn´t work as planned. When the white horse is spotted in the desert, however, and some lights begin to surface in the distance, the story might still change for the better, since to these officers, real battle would be a blessing in disguise. Among the great actors and story, the locations and cinematography of the film is just remarkable. Most of the exterior scenes were shot in Iran before the revolution in 1979 by Ayatollah Khomeini, at the location of the ”dead town of Arg-e-Bam” (Citadel of Bam), which later sadly was almost destroyed by the earthquake in 2003, wiping the 2000 years of history in a matter of minutes, and killing thousands. It´s now hard to imagine the film without these real locations, since the ruins of the city, and the Iranian desert landscapes are the essential part of the isolation and frustration to feel real. The combination of the close-ups - the emotional side at the actors faces, and the rough and still beautiful images of their surroundings, work very well for the film. The story also includes a scene on the snowy mountains, which gives a refreshing change for the scenery. Interiors are later shot in the famous “Cinecittà Studios” in Rome. Again we also can´t forget the beautiful, but yet sad, music by composer Ennio Morricone. His list of great film scores seems to be endless. “The Desert of the Tartars” is a relatively long film with a very vague timeline, and viewers who´ll seek some constant war-action will probably be disappointed. It´s not my style to give any big spoilers when doing reviews, so let´s say that like the officers of the fortress, the viewers also have to wait and be patient during the film, since who knows; maybe the battle arrives after all. In certain ways it feels that you can read many messages from the film even today, since the war and violence have been close to us in one way or another throughout our history. When in this film the possible threat comes from the feared Tartars, soon it´ll be many countries facing each other in “World War I”, then “World War II”, and even when the filmmakers didn´t know it at the time, now e.g. the terrorism. Throughout the mankind, and at this very moment, frustrated men somewhere are waiting for the possible war or battle, many sacrificing the hopes and dreams in the process. It could come, but then again, maybe it doesn´t. No matter what happens, they´ll be ready for it. With guns and ammo, ready to kill their “enemy”, invisible or not.
Video
US “No Shame Films” has done a big favour for all the film buffs by releasing this partly forgotten gem in a proper way (the film was released on DVD in Italy in 2001, but I haven´t personally seen it). The US-release is presented in Anamorphic 1.85:1, and the transfer is very slightly window-boxed. The transfer is most parts pleasant to the eye, but the print is occasionally a bit wore down, revealing some film artifacts and roughness. This is still a good presentation, with nice film grain and bold colours. The monochromic look at the desert is also well presented, and apart from certain scenes, black levels looked fine. Some edge enhancement probably can be seeing at least with bigger screens, but nothing that distracting. IMDB list the aspect ratio as ”1.66:1”, but the transfer didn´t look too tight or anything like that (this was probably shown 1.66:1 in some parts of Europe). The film runs 147:18 minutes (NTSC), and it has 12 chapters. “Dual layer” disc is coded “R0”.
Audio
Despite what the back cover says, the film has only one audio track, Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono. Optional English subtitles are included. The dialogue is clear, and the background sound effects like the sand and wind blowing, the echoes of the footsteps at the fortress, and military drills blend all nicely together. Some background hiss can be heard, but it´s often the case with the films from this era, at least in some degree.
Extras
This release includes a few interesting extra-features, which are all in Italian, and with optional English subtitles. Do note, that you have to choose English subtitles from the ”Main menu”, so the same language-option applies to the both movie and the extras. - When you go to the movie itself, there´s a brief ”Film introduction” -featurette by cinematographer Luciano Tovoli before the film plays, running 0:51 seconds. He mentions something about the book, and how director Zurlini gave him pretty much free hands with his artistic visions. - “Ghosts of the Desert” -featurette runs 34:49 minutes, and it´s a lengthy interview with cinematographer Luciano Tovoli. The look of the interview is a bit on the “Mini-DV”-side, but does the job rather well. Tovoli speaks continuously, having a clearly very intelligent and artistic way of approaching the world of filmmaking. This will eventually make some of his stories a bit heavy to swallow, but he gives some nice information about the director Zurlini (and also a few other directors from his career) and generally about the Italian cinema at the time. He tells a few anecdotes during the production of “The Desert of the Tartars” (like that the food and wine on the set came from Paris), and he obviously talks about some of his decisions when it comes to the cinematography of the film. Based on his own words, he wasn´t that experienced (although he had done already several movies, such as “The Passenger AKA Professione: Reporter (1975)”), and because of that he was ready to take some risks which eventually paid off. He also tells of his background as a student, and getting one of his first real jobs from the documentarian Vittorio De Seta (not “De Sica”). As many film buffs probably know, Tovoli later on went and did such a classic like “Suspiria (1977)”, and a few films in Hollywood. - “The Most Important Role of My Life - Or How I Got Along with Kirk Douglas After He Hit Me” -vintage featurette runs 5:11 minutes, and it´s an interview with actor Giuliano Gemma. Conducted probably around the 1980s, Gemma tells a few funny stories of working with American actors such as Kirk Douglas. He also says a few things about “The Desert of the Tartars” (Gemma is very proud of the film). - “Memories From the Fortress” -featurette runs 6:10 minutes, and is a more recent interview with actor Giuliano Gemma. In this one he talks more about the production, telling how it helped that he was a good horse rider, and he also says how the atmosphere at the set was a bit like the army itself, director Zurlini being the top of the rank. Too bad that the interview is a bit short, since Gemma always does some nice interviews, it seems. A few photos are also included. - Italian theatrical trailer is included (4:14 minutes), and it also includes optional English subtitles. - Photo gallery with music is running 1:50 minutes, and includes 22 photos (mainly stills, but a few posters are also included). - 16-page booklet includes liner notes, and biographies (and selected filmographies) of Valerio Zurlini, Luciano Tovoli, and author Dino Buzzati by Chris D. It also includes (among a few photos) excerpts from essay “Eugenio Montale on Dino Buzzati´s The Desert of the Tartars (Il Secondo Mestiere Prose)”, and some notes about the soundtrack CD, as well as its track-listing. Bonus disc: Apparently recently discovered stereo master tapes from the EMI vaults have found their way onto CD, and the soundtrack of the film by Ennio Morricone is also presented on this release. It goes without saying that the music is just beautiful, and this is a great addition for the disc. Here´s the track list (48:10 min): 1> Il Deserto Come Estasi (4:14 min) 2> Proposta (1:46 min) 3> Minaccia Continua (3:01 min) 4> Il Deserto Come Minaccia (3:33 min) 5> Un Cavaliere All'orizzonte (1:10 min) 6> La Casa E La Giovinezza (3:28 min) 7> Una Fortezza Su Una Frontiera Morta (3:11 min) 8> Stillicidio (4:09 min) 9> Le Stagione, Gli Anni... (4:49 min) 10> Il Deserto Come Poesia Della Fine (3:36 min) 11> Il Cavallo Bianco Dei Tartari (1:28 min) 12> La Cena Degli Ufficiali (3:47 min) 13> Marcia Nella Tormenta (2:42 min) 14> La Vestizione E L'addio (7:08 min)
Overall
An unique and original film, and recommended for the all fans of European cinema. It´s definitely not something that you´ll see everyday, but it should please both more “serious” film scholars, as well as the fans of Euro cult movies. A thinking man's film. This DVD is available at Xploited Cinema.
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