Cinco Mulheres Marcadas

Just watched this World War II drama directed by Martin Ritt on Netflix streaming. The title characters are played by Silvana Mangano, Jeanne Moreau, Carla Gravina, Barbara Bel Geddes, and Vera Miles. They've all been involved with the Nazi soldier played by Steve Forrest though one of them had only kissed him. As a result, they all got their hair shorn by the men who think they're the lowest of the low for sleeping with the enemy. But they start redeeming themselves when they shoot many Nazi soldiers in an attempted raid of a sheep ranch. I'll stop there and just say this was quite a compelling movie that addressed the complexities of the way men and women acted during wartime that got them certain punishments they wouldn't have otherwise during a time of peace. And the performances of the above are all greatly done especially that of Ms. Mangano as well as that of Van Heflin who plays the reluctant commanding officer who accepts these women into his unit. Among the other male supporting cast, Harry Guardino and Richard Basehart also deserve kudos for their performances. Really, all I'll say now is I highly recommend 5 Branded Women.

Martin Ritt who partnered with Paul Newman in such films as The Long Hot Summer, Hud, and Hombre did this rather unknown work that was critically well received back in the day, but remains fairly unknown to today's filmgoers. I remember well seeing 5 Branded Women in theater back in the day and never saw it again until very recently.

The women are Yugoslavs who have all been seduced and abandoned by one German sergeant played by Steve Forrest. All slept with him for various reasons, all are trying to survive the best way they can. After partisans capture Forrest with one of them, all of them are shorn of their hair as reminders of what fraternization with the enemy means. The five woman so branded are Silvana Mangano, Jeanne Moreau, Vera Miles, Barbara Bed Geddes, and Carla Gravina. Gravina is pregnant by Forrest. The Germans banish the women because they remain walking symbols of partisan reprisals. As for Forrest that son of the fatherland is shorn of something that doesn't grow back.

The women stick together because all they have now is each other. Not for long because when a partisan band headed by Van Heflin sees the now armed women deal with a Nazi patrol, they get accepted in the band. But their rules are pretty strict as they all find out.

War is a brutal business and guerrillas fighting occupiers make it the most brutal kind of war. The mixed feelings that director Ritt leaves you with, you are supposed to have. You watch 5 Branded Women and especially if you are a woman you wonder what you might do to survive.

5 Branded Women is both an anti-war film and a film that shows you just what you might have to do to repel an invader. Nice ensemble performances from the whole cast and a strong if mixed message is delivered.

From the same director who brought us "Norma Rae" this classic World War II "resistance band fights guerilla warfare against Nazis in the snowywoods" has an interesting twist: they're all women and decked out in leather bomber jackets, crew cuts and machine guns.

Jeanne Moreau, Barbara Bel Geddes, Silvana Mangano, and Vera Miles - all shaved, humiliated, and thrown out of their peasant villages for sleeping with the enemy - now have taken arms against that enemy, but the "real" resistance doesn't want them. So these women must fight the men who are against them AND the men who are supposedly on their side, as well as each other.

Melodrama, to be sure, but different enough and with a fascinating sub-text, that it has become a "guilty" pleasure.

I saw this film on television when I was about 11 or 12 and it made a deep impression on me. While I had little understanding of war and certainly no personal experience of it, it pointed out the danger of isolation in the midst of endless violence and the horror of rejection for what would in peacetime have been regarded as a youthful transgression.

The casting of Vera Miles and Barbara Bel Geddes among the European actresses was a clear ploy to make this film resonate with American audiences whom during this period were more accustomed to light, frivolous films. Films of a more serious and thoughtful nature were mostly coming from Europe. At the dawn of the 60s this was a shocking exploitation film, preying on women's feelings of vanity, Americans' collective puritanism about sex, and our waning jingoism. It would be interesting to see how audiences would react to it now.

I have not seen this movie in many years. But I remember it being very interesting. I always love Barbara Bel Geddes. She is one of the most overlooked actresses of our time. When I saw those women walking down the street with their heads shaved, it was a shock for a little boy. I was about 10 when I saw this movie, but it left an impression on me.