El Alamein - La linea del fuoco

This is a good movie of men in war, not a war movie Hollywood style. It shows the madness of war and (at the beginning at least) reminds me of the surreal atmosphere of another great movie, "Il deserto dei tartari". El Alamein - Linea di Fuoco is a movie that gives at last some justice to the brave men who fought and died in Africa for their country, at that time led by a dangerous gambler, not because they were fascists (those stayed far from the battlefront) but because they felt it was their duty. They didn't lack courage or skills but the means of more advanced industrial powers - the German-Anglo-Saxon reputation in warfare being largely due to superior production and logistics. Showing how Italy could fall in love for "Il Duce" was clearly out of this movie scope and reach, but perhaps it will help reading again this quotation attributed to a world expert in this field, Herr Hermann Goering: "People can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country". In our days, our leaders do not even have to show us we are being attacked - see headlines for "preemptive war", "Iraq", "Iran"...

No heroism. No victory in the end. Only the uneasy feeling of the omnipresent heat, the lack of anything else required for whatever war you're fighting and a growing feeling of despair. Yet the story touched me because it was brought in a way that made it quite believable. The optimistic student who goes to war in the belief that the Italian army will be in Caïro in no time at all, because he believed the public opinion and the promises of Il Duce back home like everybody else did. I must hereby add, that that feeling of believing the story was very much fed by the fact that in my opinion the director and his camera crew knew exactly what they were doing and I also would like to give a big compliment to the casting people. Maybe over the years I have seen better war movies, but not many and certainly not from Italy.

The Italian point of view is sufficiently rare about WW2 to be noticed. You had to come back to the late sixties and early seventies, in the italian film industry of course - not French nor German - to find such a scheme. EL ALAMEIN directed by Gioirgio Ferroni, starring Frederick Stafford was the best example. But more recently, I don't remember any other film. Maybe there were Italian films in the fifties and sixties, in black and white, directed by the likes of Dino Risi or any other great director, in a comic and tragic way, thru absurd situations, to describe the poverty row of the Italian Army during WW2. I am sure there were movies like this one, but treated differently. I am not a specialist of this kind of Italian films from the sixties, sorry folks. To summarize, this feature from 2002 is definitely worth watching for whom wishes to know how war was for the poor Italian army. An underrated army where lack of courage from the simple soldiers was certainly not the main cause. But instead of those who commanded them. Good acting and waesome directing, so accurate and didactic too. I think that was the purpose.

a very crude, beautiful, rarely near-truth war movie, rhetoricless. it reflects the story of italian war drama, fought against allied extrapowered forces. the italian armed support of that campain is usually undervaluated by historian and worldwide literature to favour of little contribution given by rommel's africakorp. I think they have right to obtain a more correct history-revision to give truth to the truth. the movie soundtrack is very exotic and fashinating, so you can feel the right atmosphere of desert land. a particular appreciation for the use of italian realistic vintages motorcycles, trucks, guns and a beautiful FIAT 508C militarizzata (command-car)in the right camouflage. the movie has given a simple, real chronicle of the time. enjoy yourself-bye

Given its small budget, this is a fine little film about Italian troops abandoned in the face of the British counter attack at El Alamein in late 1942.

More films and books need to be made about this sad chapter in the history of Italy, whose international military reputation is somewhat lower than that of the French.

Italian troops gave no less to their cause than did Germans or the British, the Russians, the Americans, and the Japanese. But because of poor leadership from Mussolini on down, they were forced to surrender in droves, and as much as we don't want to admit it, we Westerners hold those who surrender in pretty low esteem.

This film goes a long way toward correcting the historical record through its touching story, beautiful acting, wonderful art direction, and absolutely stunning cinematography.