The Tatar Desert (film)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
German title The Tatar desert
Original title Il deserto dei Tartari
Country of production Italy , France , Germany
original language Italian
Publishing year 1976
length 140 minutes
Rod
Director Valerio Zurlini
script André G. Brunelin
Jean-Louis Bertuccelli
production Michelle de Broca et al
music Ennio Morricone
camera Luciano Tovoli
cut Franco Arcalli
Raimondo Crociani
occupation
synchronization

The Tatar Desert (original title: Il deserto dei Tartari ) is an Italian - French feature film from 1976 by Valerio Zurlini , based on the novel The Tatar Desert by Dino Buzzati . The international star cast included well-known actors such as Vittorio Gassman , Philippe Noiret , Fernando Rey , Jean-Louis Trintignant and Max von Sydow .

It was shown in the Cannes Classics section of the 2013 Cannes International Film Festival .

action

The plot of the film largely follows the novel by Dino Buzzati from 1940, but no longer from the sole point of view of the protagonist.

After completing his officer training and being promoted to lieutenant, the young Giovanni Drogo is transferred to his first officer position. He is supposed to do his service in the legendary Bastiani fortress, which was built sometime in earlier times to defend the northern border of the empire against attacks by the Tatars . Bastiani Fortress is a remote fort , somewhere on the edge of the desert in a dreary and desolate wasteland .

The focus is on the pointless waiting for that hypothetical enemy who never appears. The soldiers' waiting time is filled with senseless, military rituals that show the downfall of the existing society and its representatives. Rituals such as drill and roll call, ceremonies, but also a formal dinner for the officers. Drogo meets various military representatives, u. a. on Lieutenant Colonel Conte Giovanbattista Filimore, a withdrawn officer who fell prey to melancholy (Gassman), on the cynical medical officer Rovin (Trintignant), on the commander of the fortress (Gemma), on the general (Noiret) and various other superiors.

In the end, Drogo collapses, probably as a result of his mysterious illness caused by waiting. He dies during the transfer to his hometown.

background

Arg-e Bam from the south

A large part of the film was shot in Arg-é Bam , Iran , the largest mud building in the world. Various directors ( Michelangelo Antonioni , Miklós Jancsó ) had already planned a film adaptation beforehand, but then withdrew for economic or dramaturgical reasons.

criticism

“A stylistically rigorous film adaptation of Buzzatti's metaphysical parable . Although not equally convincing in all aspects, the film impresses above all with the grandiose landscape and the excellent performance of the actors. "

- Lexicon of International Films

“The Italian director Valerio Zurlini made a strict, pleasantly old-fashioned film based on Dino Buzzati's famous parable about the hopelessness of human existence. [...] Here, too, he has succeeded in making a stylish film adaptation of the literature that remains true to the spirit of the original inspired by Kafka. Quiet and concentrated, Zurlini exposes the absurdity of this closed society layer by layer. And he manages to form a group of international stars into a homogeneous ensemble that plays without individual vanity: Vittorio Gassmann, Max von Sydow, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Fernando Rey, Jacques Perrin, Giuliano Gemma, Francisco Rabat, Helmut Griem. 'The Tatar Desert' is not a flawless film, but one that stands out pleasantly from the fashionable cinema of loud sensations thanks to its calm and patience. "

- Criticism in DIE ZEIT

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Tatar Desert in: Lexicon of International Films
  2. ↑ "The Tatar Desert" - Zurlini's Buzzati film adaptation by Hans C. Blumenberg in DIE ZEIT from May 27, 1977