THE STORY – The First World War is drawing to a close. Two Army doctors, and childhood friends, work in the same military hospital where the seriously wounded come in every day from the front. Many of them, however, have self-inflicted wounds—impostors who would do anything not to return to the battlefield. From an upper-middle-class family, with a father who dreams of a future in politics for him, Stefano is his own brand of cop in addition to being a physician, and is obsessed with these self-harmers. Giulio is apparently more understanding and tolerant, but he is uncomfortable at the sight of blood, is more inclined towards research work, and would have preferred a career in biology. Anna, their friend since university, volunteers for the Red Cross, a hard job that she carries out with determination, while aware that it’s the price she’s made to pay for being a woman. In those days, without an influential family backing her up, it was hard for a woman to get a degree in medicine. Meanwhile, something strange is happening among the patients: many of them are mysteriously getting worse. Somebody might be purposely causing complications to their wounds, so that the soldiers may be sent home, even crippled, even mutilated, as long as they don’t make it back to the combat zone. There is a saboteur inside the hospital. Anna is the first to suspect so. But right towards the end of the conflict a sort of infection starts spreading at the front, striking down more people than the enemy weapons. And it soon spreads over to the civilian population…
THE CAST – Alessandro Borghi, Gabriel Montesi, Federica Rosellini, Giovanni Scotti, Vince Vivenzio, Alberto Cracco, Luca Lazzareschi, Maria Grazia Plos & Rita Bosello
THE TEAM – Gianni Amelio (Director/Writer) & Alberto Taraglio (Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 103 Minutes
Action from the World War I frontlines is never depicted in Gianni Amelio’s “Campo di Battaglia” (translated to “Battlefield”). Still, its devastating effects are seen and heard in nearly every frame of this bleak Italian war drama. Blood-soaked sheets and cries from wounded soldiers fill a wartime hospital room, as well as their pleas for life beyond the war. At a time when young men had no choice when joining the frontlines, some preferred life-altering injuries or death rather than the traumatic battles that otherwise awaited them. Amelio centers his story on two doctors’ dueling efforts to save or send their patients off to war, with both paths having insurmountable effects on soldiers’ lives. Unfortunately, the film doesn’t have quite as much of an emotionally charged pull to it.
There’s nothing Drs. Stefano Zorzi (Alessandro Borghi) and Guilio Farrasi (Gabriel Montesi) haven’t seen in their hospital: stab wounds, broken legs, blown-off eyes, and PTSD (brought to life by convincing makeup design). The way they treat and regard patients is where their main differences lie. Stefano, a staunch patriot, can spot the soldiers who have mutilated themselves in order to escape military service, and he’s eager to send them back onto the field whether or not they’re physically fit to do it. Guilio, however, understands their plight and offers a way out for them. At night, he nicknamed the Holy Hand, brings patients into his operating room and makes their conditions a little worse, which, in exchange, grants them a ticket back home.
The assembly of patients is, at times, hard to watch – like one who shakes uncontrollably and is haunted by visions of German soldiers coming to kill the wounded. But sometimes, there’s tenderness in these scenes. The moments they spend with Guilio, where they talk about home and those waiting for their return, remind us of what’s at stake when brave men and women go to war. When Stefano and others call them “fakers,” “losers,” and “worse than the enemy,” their lack of empathy hits like a dagger. It’s easy to say all that when you’re not in their shoes, so for Guilio to risk it all – he could be jailed or killed for treason – makes him even more commendable.
Unfortunately, when Stefano learns of the Holy Hand, the film doesn’t give us the emotionally charged standoff we want. Watching the doctors go head-to-head would have been so satisfying, especially since the stakes are so high. It would have also allowed Borghi and Montesi to flex their acting muscles fully. More often than not, their characters are cordial with each other and avoid getting into tiffs, which isn’t always so exciting to watch.
Stefano retaliates against Guilio by sending him to be among those inflicted by the Spanish flu and to figure out a way to help treat them. It’s quite an abrupt shift in the story, and it’s not very stimulating to watch Guilio swab sick patients’ nostrils and observe bacteria grow in a petri dish. The script also doesn’t give a new nurse at the infirmary, Anna (Federica Rosellini), much to do or insight into her character, other than mention she was top of her class, start some sort of relationship with Stefano (which is barely explored) and help Guilio with his experiments.
“Battlefield” lacks the energy needed for a film of this nature. It has the foundation for intrigue—an intense setting, people at odds in their practices, and many deadly consequences if things go wrong—but it never takes itself to the thrilling heights it wants to reach. The result is lackluster and doesn’t hold viewers’ attention for long.
