El dedo en la llaga

One of my hobbies is watching obscure titles on old VHS tapes usually bought from flea markets and car boot sales. Most of the films are genuinely appalling, but every once in a while a gem is found.

Salt in the wound is one of them. In fact, most Klaus Kinski films are better than your average American pap. Apart from Kinski's psychotic performance, Salt in the wound also excels in cinematography. Some scenes are rescued by imaginative use of light. Also the length of the film is less than 90 minutes, which helps in keeping the viewer focused throughout.

The worst part of the film is the script. Cliched and predictable, it goes to show, that imagination in the casting and directing goes a long way.

Recommended, if you can get a copy.

If you ever want to check out a complete disaster of a movie, just for laughs, then this is the champion of all champions. What was an accomplished actor like Klaus Kinski thinking of, when he was offered this movie?

Personally speaking, the plot is not even worth discussing, that's if there is even a plot in the film. But two things are worth talking about. Firstly, it has the worst direction, that I have ever seen in a movie. And secondly, the cinematography in it is so bad, that it makes even The Blair Witch Project look fantastic. Summing this movie up is so simple. Badly acted, badly directed and badly photographed. Basically, a complete disaster

This is a film which is extremely hard to find on video. I would consider this to be one of the "holy grails". Perhaps the reason for this is because it's so bad. Rating:0/10.

For Klaus Kinski admirers "TheLiberators" is surely a film to avoid. It is perhaps the most unrealistic war movie ever. You will not believe what is appearing on the screen. Kinski and two other American Soldiers successfully defending a small Italian village from a German infantry and tank assault. In addition to the totally unbelievable script, the dubbing is appalling, especially for Kinski, who sounds more like John Wayne than himself. Throw in some kind of religious theme that appears out of nowhere, and a melodramatic middle of the film, where tears flow, and you pretty much have an idea that this is going to be a disaster of epic proportions. There is absolutely no reason to watch "The Liberators", other than Klaus Kinski, and his performance it totally ruined by the atrocious dubbing. Avoid. MERK

This is a war-themed film, or rather, purportedly anti-war, different from what we're used to. Here, the purely war-related aspects-combat techniques, weaponry, uniforms-are quite neglected. Clearly, they didn't have an expert in the field, and probably didn't bother allocating a sufficient budget for this. Furthermore, it's a movie centered on psychological investigation. The setting, namely the advances of the 5th American army moving north through the Italian peninsula during WWII, is merely secondary and contributes nothing to the intended psychological exploration the director aimed to bring to the big screen.

There are numerous poorly executed or neglected details that detract from any potential strengths the film might have. The makeup, costumes, hairstyles all carry a '70s vibe that hardly makes everything else believable. Once again, perhaps these weren't the director's main focus, as they almost exclusively aimed to capitalize on a storyline that has its interesting points, but sadly, they haven't been wisely emphasized.

The actors, especially Kinski, moderately fulfill their roles, although these performances get lost in a visually flawed narrative full of imperfections and stylistic choices the director fails to control.

Technically speaking, all things related to warfare are of a very low standard, with visual stereotypes reminiscent of Spaghetti Westerns, and excessively expedient and erroneous narrative shortcuts. Weapons with infinite ammunition, soldiers from both sides dropping like flies under the enemy's endless gunfire, and a myriad of inaccuracies that undoubtedly provoke total rejection from fans of the genre towards the entire movie.

However, setting aside all these aspects, fundamentally, I believe it's a modest film that deserves more than just a passing grade since making a war-themed film when the real intent is a psychological investigation of characters-soldiers who each, in their way, carry their social, human, or racial condition-is no easy feat.

This is a below mediocre war film that doesn't have much to say. It was made by Cine Azimut, which isn't famous for other hits as "Cost of Dying", "Death Laid an Egg" (real title), this one, and two others. After seeing this film, I'm not surprised he's not more well known. There is occasionally some good action and a few tense moments, but it mostly just felt heavy-handed with the message. War movies fall into the trap of their message all the time. This was a "War is hell and people sometimes become the animals war requires them to be". I think that's what they were going for, anyway. The climax is so far over the top that it was completely unbelievable, but in an over-zealous, yet somewhat touching kind of way. The shining performance came from Klaus Kinski, but even then it was a larger than life performance in a wild and woolly kind of way. I did like the location filming. Most of it was filmed in Italy and Monte Carlo, so it's got that rustic, believable old-world WWII feel, a gold star for that. Ultimately, this is not a terrible film, far from it, but it's likely not one I'll be watching again or can recommend.