41/35
In the winter of 1862, during the Civil War, the US
Army sends a company of volunteers to patrol the uncharted territory of the West. Minervini had a set built in Montana, then had the actors live there for two months. The dialogue and ideas expressed are those that the actors came up with while living in the wilderness and imagining themselves as Civil War soldiers.
All lack military experience, knowledge is shared and skills are passed down
The Damned: In the winter of 1862, a volunteer unit of Union soldiers is sent to defend a mountainous area, we are not told where it is, we are not even told the names of the soldiers. After the regular troops leave, they are subdued by a John Brown-style patriarch with a flowing beard, and his teenage sons are also enlisted. The soldiers are a mixed bunch, some middle-aged, even old, most in their thirties.
A buffalo is shot and killed
We witness mobile guards, long-range shots at horsemen. The bleak landscape, the hills, the mountain meadows, the drifting snow, the cold rations running out, add to the sense of existential despair. The battle is on, we see no enemy, we see the losses of the unit.
Some of them are welcome
War is hell, especially when you no longer know why you are there. A film very similar to Ken Loach without the everyday dialogue and with a lot of ordinary people playing, amateurs as soldiers. This improvisation leads to philosophical, religious and political discussions around campfires.
Written and directed by Roberto Minervini, 8/10
But that is a minor distraction from this raw depiction of men at war.
https://www.examplesofletters.com/the-six-triple-eight-2024-full-movie-free-4562/