Le désert des Tartares

This is the tale of a youth lieutenant named Drogo (Jacques Perrin) who is sent to a garrison located in a far post of the limits of an isolated desert and mountains surrounding . The assignment is to prevent an allegedly invasion by the dreadful Tartars . It's the story of a cavalry officer and his relationship with the remaining officers , such as lieutenant Simeón (Helmut Griem) , Commandant Mattis (Giuliano Gemma), Colonel Ortiz (Max Von Sidow ), Excellency Filmore (Vittorio Gassaman), superior officer ,(Fernando Rey) , count Amerling (Laurent Terzieff) , officer(Jean Louis Trintignant) , a General (Philippe Noiret) and a sergeant (Francisco Rabal) . All of them are suffering pains and unsettling about the possible threat coming beyond the range of high mountains , though anybody has ever seen the enemy .

Slow-moving story based on Dino Buzzzati novel requires quite thought and patience but the officers battle against time more than Tartars . Exceptional plethora of actors formed by the greatest players of the European cinema . Spectacular production design filmed in Cinecitta , Arg-e Bam , Iran , location recently destroyed by an earthquake and Tentro , Trentino (Italy) , place where director Zurlini died in 1982 . The main scenes were shot at the Bam Citadel . In 2003 it was almost completely destroyed by an earthquake, along with much of the rest of Bam and its environs . A few days after the earthquake , the Iranian President announced that the Citadel would be rebuilt . The Arg-e Bam was the largest adobe building in the world , located in Bam, a city in the southeastern Iran . It is listed by UNESCO as part of the World Heritage Site "Bam and its Cultural Landscape". The origin of this enormous citadel on the Silk Road can be traced back to the Achaemenid period . The heyday of the citadel was from the 7th to 11th centuries, being at the crossroads of important trade routes and known for the production of silk and cotton garments . The entire building was a large fortress in whose heart the citadel itself was located, but because of the impressive look of the citadel , which forms the highest point, the entire fortress is named the Bam Citadel.

Sensitive musical score including piano touches by the great Ennio Morricone . Colorful , evocative cinematography by Luciano Tovoli . The motion picture was professionally directed by Valerio Zurlini (1926-1982) and assistant direction by Christian Challonge . Zurlini was a good director with hits : 'The girl with a suitcase'(with Jacques Perrin and Claudia Cardinale), 'The professor' (Alain Delon) and flops : 'Black Jesus'(Woody Strode) and 'Violent summer' (Jean Louis Trintignant) . Rating : Acceptable and passable, however , being slow and a little boring .

if you know the novel, the film could be a correct adaptation. if you do not know the book, the film could be boring, too slow, too long, only an experiment. in fact, the truth is at the middle. the film is more than an adaptation but exposure of the point of view of director about the isolation of man in contemporary society. the purpose is served by the great cast, the desolated landscapes, the expectation as way to survive, the construction of the dramatic end. it is translation of a deep feeling and the book of Buzatti seems be, in many scenes, the perfect tool. so, it is not fair to define it using the expectations. because something does it special. maybe, the reflection in yourself. or the long expectations. or the sensation to see a Kafka works.

This film features one of the most extraordinary locations I've ever seen on film,apparently shot in Southeast Iran, these giant, snow-capped mountains loom in the distance while closer, a desert fortress rises above what appears to be the remains of abandoned, ancient ruins. In this setting, an outpost on the edge of the desert of the Tartars, overseeing rock, sand, and a perpetual mist, the extraordinary external visual world stands for the internalized world that evolves over time, soldiers at the outpost suffer from mysterious ailments that scientists can not name or cure, a metaphor for fear of the unknown, which eats at the inner core of these soldiers who live in a world abandoned by time. The men train for the inevitable attack that lurks just beyond their eyesight or understanding, there is a sort of desert fever that kicks in, so it is not really known if there is an army out there or if it's all in their mind. The stunning,visual world has been created, once again, from the brilliant mind of Valerio Zurlini.

The film reminded me of two others, Tarkovsky's `Solaris,' where men are sent to outer space only to discover that the planet surface mysteriously interacts with each man's internal memories, also a recent Hungarian film by Peter Gothar called `The Outpost,' an absurdist, Kafkaesque journey that as one engineer gets promoted and travels farther and farther away into the outer reaches of the country, bribing nearly everyone she meets just to get there, leaving the comforts of anything remotely resembling normal, and instead discovers a peculiar outpost at the end of the world where the mind plays terrible tricks.

The closest comparison for this film is "2001: A Space Odyssey". whether you were awed or bored by Kubrick's masterpiece, you will probably react the same to this one. Yes, it is slow-moving, and little happens, but I was on the edge of my seat throughout. A breathtaking masterpiece.

A film over two hours long set in a remote desert fort, with an all male cast and no action, may seem a daunting prospect, however THE DESERT OF THE TARTARS is a strikingly memorable experience. The characters are full of suppressed emotion and inner turmoil, the strange surrealistic fort a metaphor of their spiritual imprisonment, and the huge expanse of surrounding desert a tangent reminder, day by day, and year by year, of their fears and lost aspirations.

Time passes imperceptibly, and our dashing young lieutenant, played by Jacques Perrin and surrounded by a stellar male cast, ages and weakens as the desert and the constraints of life in the fort strips away his physical strength and inner resolve. He yearns to free himself of the debilitating fort's influence, but finds himself transfixed by the mystical challenges of the landscape, and the perceived danger from the unseen enemy beyond.

The dust of the desert, the artificiality of the military life within the walls of the fort, the rituals and uniforms, the unspoken fears, the friendships and animosities between brother officers, the authority that seldom explains it's decisions, the half-recalled memories of a former life, and the ever present foreboding created by the shadows of the desert, shadows that sometimes give rise to visions of a lurking threat that may, or may not, be hidden in those shadows.

Exemplary colour widescreen photography is aided immeasurably by the haunting themes written by Ennio Moricone, and at the disquieting and ominous conclusion of the film, we are indeed completely mesmerized by an impressionistic, visionary spectacle that will haunt us for a long time after the final credits roll.