14/18
In the winter of 1862, during the Civil War, the U.S. Army sends a volunteer company to patrol the uncharted western territories. Minervini had a set built in Montana, then left the cast to live there for two months. The dialogue and thoughts expressed are those that the actors came up with while living in the wilderness, imagining themselves as soldiers in the Civil War.. Damned: Winter 1862, a volunteer unit of Union soldiers is sent to defend a mountainous territory, we are not told where, we are not even given the names of the soldiers. After the regular troops move out, under the command of a John Brown-style patriarch with a flowing beard, his teenage sons also sign up. The soldiers are a mixed bag, some middle-aged, even old, most in their thirties. All lack military experience, They share knowledge and skills are passed on. We witness mobile sentries, shots fired at distant horsemen. The buffalo is shot and slaughtered. The bleak landscape, the hills, the mountain meadows, the drifts of snow, the cold meals that are running out, all contribute to the development of a sense of existential despair. The battle is going on, we don’t see the enemy, we see the losses of the unit. War is hell, especially when you no longer know why you are there. Mostly a Ken Loach-style film without the established dialogue from day to day and a lot of ordinary people acting, amateurishly like soldiers. This improvisation leads to philosophical, religious and political discussions around the campfire. Some of them are not welcome. But that is a minor distraction from this raw portrayal of men at war. Written and directed by Roberto Minervini, 8/10.