jolgeir

As a movie about war and romance during WW2, this is surprising in a way. I find no fault with the acting and how the movie is shot. From that point of view, it is good and even more than that. But one must ask the question, what is the whole point of this story? Is it to show how people's feelings are affected by war and uncertainty? Or how love wins in the end? This is open to interpretation. I enjoyed watching this film, all the time waiting for something decisive to happen. Yet, little happened. The film ends with a question mark. As a film about the uncertainty of emotion it is a success. But that is nothing new, indeed a very old and unsurprising theme. One wonders what is the basic purpose here. But as mentioned earlier the acting is good and convincing.

It is not fair to compare this movie to much later or modern action movies. The Italian touch makes for a plot that is far from superficial. I enjoyed this movie from the late sixties. It is interesting to see how an European approach differs from the way Hollywood would have done it. There are details of plot and acting that could never have appeared in an American film from this time. There is a certain sophistication in the directors' approach. The roles are never overplayed, but underplaying adds to the undercurrent of excitement and realism. The setting in Rome does much to enhance the air and atmosphere of the 60's. The music scores are very good and in harmony with the whole plot. There is an element here of genuine artistry not often found in mainstream movies of our day.

Enjoyable scenes of 1961 city street life as a background for a plot that is well acted and interesting. The pace is a bit slow if you like fast action. This is not an outstanding movie in any sense, but it has a story that is more realistic than some other hitman films. At the beginning you wonder if this movie is about a series of hits or just one hit. It turns out to be the latter. The acting is convincing, but then the roles do not require much more than to reflect genuine people against the stress of the hitman who knows he must follow a regular procedure. The overall design of the movie is unusual in that it has an announcer explaining the hitman's thoughts, and this is well done.