Cinco Mulheres Marcadas

5 Branded Women (1960)

This is a pretty amazing film right from the start, and it doesn't let up. It's a horrifying war movie with five women the victims and sometimes heroes in it. It shows the brutality of guerrilla fighters against the German army, and it shows WWII in Yugoslavia, without an American or Russian in sight. It's even well made, filmed in wide screen black and white in 1960, and it stars several absolute marquee actresses.

In many ways this is an unusual and necessary and brave movie, and the American director, Martin Ritt, had already proved his abilities with serious themes. So why does it have such a low reputation? Yes, it gets a little preachy sometimes, and it doesn't seem completely believable in a few instances of high drama. There is a good but merely good directing and editing, so the events are sometimes oddly lackluster, or maybe held at a distance and made slightly false.

But some of these complaints are only moderately true. And even more, there are themes here that are completely counterbalancing and make it worth the viewing. I don't mean for action film war scenes, but for the interior of war, and for another side to the rotten, expansive Nazi decade. This does not romanticize the situation, and in fact there is no romance to hook the viewer at all (which is no flaw, but may explain a certain lack of success with audiences). That is, it's not actually a very warm or entertaining movie. If you take at all seriously what is happening to these women you'll be horrified, and for a Hays Code era movie (though an Italian Dino de Laurentiis production, which helped), it pushes the tender envelope just enough.

To be sure, there is some really good acting here. The lead male is the unlikely leading male actor who I have grown to really like, Van Heflin. When he first appears he seems overblown, but as the movie continues he settles into his role as a weary, determined rebel leader in the mountains really well. (The one other man plays a German, Richard Baseheart, and he doesn't get enough to do, unfortunately, because his presence if important.)

The five women have all been accused of "sleeping with the enemy," loosely called fraternizing. I won't even give away the start of the movie here because it comes as a shock, but it's fair to say the women are forced into a world of their own. They don't trust each other in particular, but they gradually come to need each other to survive. Among them are some huge talents: Jeanne Moreau (between her two most famous films, "Elevator to the Gallows" and "Jules and Jim") and Barbara Bel Geddes (famous as the second woman in "Vertigo" but more amazing in the great Ophuls film, "Caught").

But it's the less known Italian actress Silvana Mangano (married to the producer) who has the leading part and who gives the most involved and critical performance--she represents the trap of young women in the war the best, wanting love, hanging on the idealism, not understanding (or refusing to accept) the brutality that comes with war beyond the front lines.

As the war moves from the town to camps in the hills (it was filmed in Italy and Austria) to run-ins with the enemy and back to town for a big finale, the drama is great. Maybe the overall theme was so huge and so laced with forbidden elements it was impossible, in 1960, to make a truly fair and wrenching movie. But Ritt has tried. If this isn't a lost masterpiece, it's still a really excellent WWII film and should be on short lists along with the usual films that also, on close watching, have their limitations.

You could easily slam the content here for what it doesn't do, for the things Ritt doesn't say through the story. (The New York Times review from 1960 does exactly that, very nicely.) In fact, the story is begging to be remade, without limitations, and we'd get a harrowing and beautiful story that really bothers the viewer directly. Instead, so far, we have a movie whose ideas bother the viewer, which is something a little more indirect.

This is a masterful grim piece of eloquence all the way, with outstanding acting by above all Silvana Mangano and Van Heflin, but also Jeanne Moreau and Richard Baseheart make unforgettable characters. The war story could hardly be more grim: under German occupation of Yugoslavia, five women are seduced by a German officer and punished for it by getting their heads shaved and chased out of town, where they have to survive as thieves and parasites in the wild until fate unites them with partisans, led by Van Heflin. A German officer is taken prisoner (Richard Baseheart) under the care of Jeanne Moreau, and another of the five women is helplessly pregnant. Love and sexual relationships are forbidden among the partisans, and violation of that rule means instant execution. Martin Ritt's direction is impressing in its very sinister strictness, while only the music offers some relief and relaxation and some enjoyment of beauty. The photography is also execellent. In brief, this is an important film in its thorough insight into the conditions of women at war seduced by Germans. They are fully aware of their shame and extremely difficult condition and situation, but you could say that they survive by just being women. The film is full of precious moments, and even a little baby is allowed to join the party. This is a jewel of a most unusual war film of great dramatic intensity all through.

This relatively unknown gathers a very impressive cast of both European and American actors and actresses. Silvia Mangano gives a fine performance as the leader of the titled women. These women are casted away from a little town in Yugoslavia 1943 because they have slept with a Nazi Sargent (except innocent Vera Miles who didn't go beyond kissing but anyway is accused as the others), not before they are humiliated by their own people by cropping their hair.

The girls bound together and they wander around the country until they resolve to join the partisans despite their initial resilience. The women will form relationships with the partisans and a captured German Captain (R. Basehart).

But it's wartime and this is no Hollywood movie: there are no happy endings or black and white feelings or situations. The movie is gritty and somehow cruel. The movie has its flaws, the pacing could be better and some characters feel underdeveloped, but all things considered, this is a very good movie. It's not released on DVD, but you can find it over the Internet. It's well worth the search.

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.

This film is one of the least known gems to come from producer Dino de Laurentiis. Five women in war-torn Yugoslavia have their heads shaved for having intimate relations with a German soldier. The five bond and eventually join the partisan group who punished them back in their village. The film documents their fight against the enemy of their homeland, and their internal feelings of remorse, love, and hate. The women all give stellar performances--Silvana Mangano, Barbara Bel Geddes, Vera Miles, Jeanne Moreau, and young Carla Gravina. Van Heflin and Harry Guardino also deliver fine performances, as the leader of the Yugoslav partisan group and the troublemaker of the partisans, respectively. But perhaps the most touching performance comes from Richard Basehart as the German Captain Erich Reinhardt. In the little screen time he has, Mr. Basehart delivers a gem, bringing poignantly to life a gentle widower, plucked from his comfortable life as a university professor to fight in the war. He is captured by the partisans, and bonds with the 5 Branded Women who have been accepted into their group. He had shown sympathy for the women in the beginning of the film after their disgrace was made public, and in captivity, he bonds with them, particularly Mira (Carla Gravina),(whose baby he delivers) and Ljuba (Jeanne Moreau),(who finds herself in danger of falling for him). It takes a special talent to make you care for a character who is supposed to be a "bad guy", and to do it in less than ten minutes of total screen time is an art form. Mr. Basehart was indeed an artist. This is just one touching instance of the emotional exploration of the characters in this movie. Each character comes to life. A very little known film, but a must see. The action and emotion is raw and realistic throughout.