Tödlicher Irrtum

Excessive Retribution: Marcello Mastroianni, Richard Burton and the Ardeatine Caves Massacre

This film, which is well worth seeing, is dedicated to a particularly cruel event from the Second World War. In retaliation for a bomb attack that killed 33 members of the South Tyrolean police regiment, the National Socialist occupiers murdered 335 Italian civilians in the extensive cave system in the south of Rome.

The film, produced by Carlo Ponti (1912-2007), meticulously recreates the assassination attempt and subsequent massacre. The less than glorious role of Pope Pius XII is also made clear. GOLDEN GLOBE winner Marcello Mastroianni shines as Father Pietro Antonelli, who is determined to prevent disaster. His opponent is ACADEMY AWARD nominee Richard Burton as SS-Obersturmbannführer Herbert Kappler. The resistance fighters are played by Giancarlo Prete (places the bomb as a street sweeper) and Delia Boccardo. The original is by Robert Katz, the music is by ACADEMY AWARD winner Ennio Morricone (THE HATEFUL EIGHT) and the direction is by George Pan Cosmatos.

The German rental title "Tödlicher Error" can almost be described as a misrepresentation of history, the massacre in the Ardeatine Caves was an exorbitant act of retaliation!!!

Well worth seeing, but very painful history lesson!

An Italian war drama; A story depicting the background and events leading up to one of the most devastating wartime atrocities in modern history, the Adreatine Massacre in Rome in 1944. Thirty-three members of the German 11th Company, 3rd Battalion, SS Police Regiment 'Bozen', were attacked and gunned down by the Roman underground. Hitler's reprisal was to order the deaths of ten Roman civilians for each of the thirty-three SS soldiers killed. The Pope ordered that one Roman priest collaborate with the SS to carry it out. George P. Cosmatos directs the drama with a palpable emphasis on plot. Darkly lit to create a looming atmosphere and uncompromising scenes works well. The dialogue moralises about non-involvement, which becomes heavy at times, and there are also many inaccuracies. The character of the Head of the Security Police, Herbert Kappler, was a ruthless war criminal and not war-weary and troubled, as portrayed here by Richard Burton. The German victims in the story were regular Austrian soldiers. Of lesser importance, though, is Father Pietro Antonelli being a composite character. It's a bit cumbersome as it progresses, but as a story, it is interesting for the dilemma of reprisal and absorbing for the conflicting views of morality. Good drama arises from face-to-face confrontations.

This movie has a chilling subject matter, but there are a few too many unnecessary distractions along the way, which prevent it from getting down to the heart of the story as quickly as it should. It's still worth seeing, however, especially for fans of Richard Burton, who gives a compelling performance as a man caught in a mechanism that far surpasses him and forces him to do unthinkable deeds. And all this despite the obvious fact that Burton is miscast as a German officer with a distinctly British accent. (**1/2)

If you pick this for striking scenes of violence,you'd do better to go elsewhere. What remains in my mind after watching it are the performances - especially Richard Burton and Peter Vaughn as soldiers resigned to taking and giving orders they'd rather not take and give - and the methodical way in which the reprisals are ordered, arranged and then carried out.

Every time I hear of some brutal crime, I wonder how it ever began, how people could commit such acts.

But this film gave me an understanding of the process whereby one act/decision leads to another, which leads to another... until there's no stopping it, even if anybody wanted to.

I like this movie because of its accuracy and the excellent acting of the main cast, and also of the supporting characters. The film is very dry though, and slow, and presumably not meant as pure entertainment. It is, in my view, a more or less accurate depiction of what happened, not a star vehicle for the brilliant actors Richard Burton (Lt. Col. Herbert Kappler) and Marcello Mastroianni (Father Pietro Antonelli). John Steiner is also superb as Col. Dollmann.

This is not a film for thrill-seekers. It is a film for those who enjoy good acting, direction and historical accuracy. The main actors were serious artists, and I am sure they were very happy to participate in this well-crafted, very structured and chilling account of the German occupation of Rome. I give it 8 out of 10 stars, and that's me being conservative.