Uomini Contro (Many Wars Ago)

Francesco Rosi's 1970 film could be considered a companion piece to Stanley Kubrick's 1957 anti-war classic, Paths of Glory, which painted a devastating portrait of the trench combat on World War I's western front from the perspective of French forces. Many Wars Ago is set on the Italian lines, where the enemy is Austrian rather than German, but it draws a similar distinction between the lower-class soldiers in the ranks and their aristocratic commanders, whose contempt for ordinary infantrymen—and willingness to sacrifice them in hopeless assaults and applications of summary discipline—resemble the actions of the martinet generals in Kubrick's film. Those caught in the middle are the lieutenants who—despite misgivings—must follow orders to send their men to certain death (in one instance outfitted in ineffectual armor that merely makes them sitting ducks for the Austrian snipers). Rosi doesn't match Kubrick in level of artistry, but he fashions some startling battlefield images while also capturing the grim mood that permeates camp life. And he secures strong performances from Gian Maria Volonté and Mark Frechette as two very different but equally doomed lieutenants, and Alain Cuny as the mad general who enjoys watching soldiers die in futile operations or executing them for failure to measure up to his perverted notion of honor. Never theatrically released in America, Many Wars Ago has been expertly restored for DVD and Blu-ray, with extras including an interview with Rosi, a restoration demo, and an illustrated booklet. Highly recommended. (F. Swietek)