L'ultima valle

The movie is set during Thirty years war -1618 to 1648- epoch , finished with ¨Westfalia treatise¨. There had too much fights , destruction, hunger, deceases , the struggles between Catholics and Protestants were bloody and cruel , being dead thousands people .

The picture deals with a peaceable, hidden valley that has remained untouched by the war , there arrives some warriors who impose the terror at a pristine village : murders, rape , rampage, etc.

The good guys are Omar Sharif , Florinda Bolkan , Arthur O'Connell, while the bad and villain guys are Michael Caine , Michael Gothard, Brian Blessed , among others , everybody give awesome performances.

Colorful and appropriate cinematography by John Wilcox, Hammer's usual and it was shown in Cinerama venues, was the last film to use the Todd-AO system for principle photography . John Barry musical score is evocative and breathtaking . Intelligent writing based on a novel by Pick and magnificent direction by James Clavell (¨To Sir , with love¨ and ¨Where's Jack¨), also producer , however being an unfortunate flop.

Rating : Above average 7'5 .Well worth watching.

The Last Valley, a serious historical and sociological drama, is just about the only English language feature film to deal with the Thirty Years War. It's about a valley that because of its inaccessibility escapes some of the ravages of that very brutal conflict.

17th century Europe was the century of the great religious conflicts between Catholic and the many Protestant faiths. The Catholic Hapsburg Holy Roman Empire was gradually losing its grip on more and more of the various little domains that made up their empire. More rulers and the populations of those small kingdoms were converting to either Lutheranism or Calvinism.

Of course the rest of Europe was concerned as to who would come out on top and from 1617 when the conflict first started, Denmark, Sweden, Poland, France, Spain, just about everybody got involved one way or another. Religion was the key factor, but hardly the only one. France because her prime minister Cardinal Richelieu feared the Hapsburgs more than Protestantism allied themselves with the Protestant rulers.

The war itself was fought mostly in Germany, not Germany the nation, but Germany the geographical expression, just a place where the German language predominated. The German people, weak and disunited, were just prey for the other invading powers.

The looting and pillaging you see here is exactly what was going on in 1641 when scholar Omar Sharif who had lost his entire family and home to the war is now reduced to being a wandering beggar and stumbles into this valley which has escaped the struggle. Unfortunately following him in is Michael Caine with a company of mercenaries.

But Sharif talks Caine into doing winter quarters there instead of just sacking the place and moving on as per the norm for the day. An uneasy alliance is formed between, Sharif, Caine and his soldiers, head honcho in the town Nigel Davenport and priest Per Oscarsson.

The peasants here are hardly a noble lot, Sharif's very education makes him a figure of suspicion. Yet they're just ordinary folks trying to survive in a world that they must think is coming to an end. It would have not been out of the ordinary for them to believe that what they were seeing was Armegeddon.

The Thirty Years War is not something that is taught in American schools. I think because the United Kingdom was not involved in it. they had a nice struggle going between the crown and Parliament in the first half of that century and what became the original thirteen colonies of America were all being settled by various immigrant groups. The Last Valley is a tremendous educational tool for anyone teaching European history. We don't see any of the great figures of the war, what we do see is a glimpse into the peasant life of the period that once seen is unforgettable.

James Clavell who later wrote and directed Oriental epics like Shogun and Taipan wrote and directed The Last Valley. He and the rest of the cast and crew should be proud of being involved in a cinema masterpiece.

This is easily one of Michael Caine's and Omar Sharif's better works. The film is full of excellent acting and cinematography and lacks the expected battle scenes full of gore. Historically, it is strong enough that it was required viewing for history classes when I attended Carnegie-Mellon. A little-known, but must see movie.

As others have said, a really excellent film--intelligent, well-shot and acted, with historical background that mostly seems to be right on the money.

A few minor nits: I'm not sure that the Caine character, or most anyone, would be shouting "there is no God!" in the 1630's or 40's. And the humanism espoused by the Sharif character must have been quite rare in that day and age. Also, the ending is perhaps a bit heavy-handed in the way it drives home the moral of the story, about the pointlessness of warfare.

But all this is more than balanced by an intelligent screenplay and a highly engaging analysis of the dynamic between the peasants of the village and the soldiers. Reminded me quite a bit of The Seven Samurai, in fact, and compares well with the latter film (and *that* constitutes high praise).

Highly recommended.

Over my many years of cinema-going, I've viewed a whole range of movies with titles beginning "The Last .." including "The Last Emperor" (1987) and "The Last Samurai" (2003). "The Last Valley' may not be the best-known film with this kind of title, but it made an impression on me when I first saw it at the cinema in 1971 and still resonated with me when I viewed it again on DVD some 46 years later.

It is partly the unusual historical context: the story is set during the repeated bloody clashes of Catholic and Protestant armies largely in German-speaking continental Europe in the Thirty Years War of 1618-1648 and reference to a particular battle in a line of dialogue places the period more precisely in late 1643 and early 1644. It is partly the important subjects that it addresses: the narrative is a sharp critique of the role of religion and superstition in fostering hatred and war and the leading character eventually shouts at the local priest: "There is no Hell. Don't you understand? Because there is no God. There never was. Don't you understand? There is no God! It's a legend!".

This British film was written, produced and directed by James Cavell before he became famous for his blockbuster novels. The 17th century village in question was recreated in the valley of Trins in the beautiful Tyrol region of Austria. The Catholic villagers who live there may look rather too clean and well-clothed for the period but the mainly Protestant soldiers who occupy the valley certainly look the part. The music is from John Barry who had made his name with the early James Bond movies.

At the heart of the story is the changing fortunes of the characters as they are subject to competing sources of power: civil authority in the shape of the head villager Gruber (Nigel Davenport), religious dogma provided by the village priest Father Sebastian (Per Oscarsson), military authority imposed by a character known only as The Captain (Michael Caine), and the voice of reason and tolerance offered by the academic refugee Vogel (Omar Sharif). In the course of the story, each will have his moment of triumph but each will suffer grievously in this under- known and under-appreciated film.