The battle for San Pietro
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The battle for San Pietro |
| Original title | The Battle of San Pietro |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1945 |
| length | 32 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | John Huston |
| script | John Huston |
| production |
Frank Capra , John Huston |
| music | Dimitri Tiomkin |
| camera |
Jules Buck John Huston |
| occupation | |
| |
The Battle of San Pietro (Original Title: The Battle of San Pietro ) is an American documentary film directed by John Huston from 1945 . It is also known under the title of San Pietro .
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The film shows the fight of the US Army against the German armed forces in the vicinity of the Italian community of San Pietro during the Second World War . The director comments from the off .
At the beginning, the geographic conditions and the location of the theater of war are considered. Using maps, the film shows the planning and course of the battle. With a shaky hand-held camera, Huston documents the attacks of the American GIs on the German positions. Dying, fallen or wounded soldiers can be seen again and again. German prisoners of war are also shown.
After several days, the Americans won the battle. The dead are packed in body bags and sheets and buried in makeshift graves. Huston zoomed in on the faces of several soldiers and added that many of them have now fallen or will be dead by the time the war is over.
The film also goes into detail about the suffering of the Italian civilian population. The place of San Pietro was almost completely destroyed during the battle, the residents hid in the ruins of their houses. Some were buried in the rubble.
The film ends with a shot of the Liberty Bell and a capital "V" for " Victory " .
background
The municipality of San Pietro is halfway between Rome and Naples in the Campania region . The battle lasted from December 8 to 13, 1943 and claimed around 1,100 lives on the American side. Twelve of the US Army's 16 tanks were destroyed. It was initially assumed that the operation would run smoothly. However, the resistance of the Germans turned out to be significantly stronger than expected.
John Huston was one of several Hollywood directors (including Frank Capra and John Ford ) who were commissioned by the US government to direct war documentaries during World War II. These films were primarily used for propaganda and were intended to strengthen the morale of the local population and the troops. San Pietro was commissioned by General Mark W. Clark , who led the operation and wanted to see himself in a good light.
Huston arrived in Naples in the late autumn of 1943. There he met his friend, the cameraman Jules Buck and the Magnum photographer and war correspondent Robert Capa , whose naturalistic style shaped and influenced Huston's way of working.
The original plan was to shoot a film on five reels of 35 mm film (approx. 60 minutes). Huston was primarily supposed to conduct interviews with the soldiers of the 143rd Infantry Regiment and to document the joy of the Italians at their liberation in an effective way. As the fighting intensified, this project was abandoned.
In August 1944, a 90-minute rough cut of the film was shown to those in charge of the United States Army. Several people reportedly left the room in horror. Due to its drastic and brutal depiction of the horrors of war and its pessimistic undertone, The Battle of San Pietro , similar to Huston's later film Let There Be Light , was initially kept under lock and key by the US government and found unsuitable for the public. Huston has been accused of making an anti-war pacifist film. He responded by saying, "If I've ever made a pro-war film, I hope to be shot for it."
It was only when the respected five-star general George C. Marshall announced in 1945 that the film was an excellent training film for soldiers precisely because of its relentless realism, was it released, cut by an hour. Huston was rehabilitated and made an honorary major. Shortly after the end of the war, the film was finally released with a foreword by General Clark. The roughly two-minute prologue, written by Huston, emphasizes the importance of battle for the outcome of the war.
Despite several re-enacted and manipulated scenes (for example, some shots were mirrored to compare the direction of march in the film with that on the map), The Battle of San Pietro is considered one of the most authentic war documentaries of all time. The film is still used today as part of military training.
In 1991 he was inducted into the National Film Registry .
Reviews
- "Huston's spoken comments are full of irony, devoid of pathos, optimism, maudlin generalizations, and cheap bitterness." James Agee, 1945
- “This film should be seen by every American soldier in training. He will not discourage them, but prepare them for the first shock of combat. ” General George C. Marshall
Web links
- The Battle of San Pietro in the Internet Movie Database (English)