Il deserto dei Tartari (1976)

Director:

Valerio Zurlini

Writers:

Dino Buzzati (novel) and
André G. Brunelin (story) ...

Release Date:

29 October 1976 (Italy)

Genre:

Drama | War

Plot:

As his first assignment, lieutenant Drogo is sent to an isolated fortress on the borders of a desert and of a range of high mountains...

Plot Keywords:

Desert | Fortress | Lieutenant | Military | Shot To Death

Awards:

4 wins

Cast

Vittorio Gassman	...	Filimore
Giuliano Gemma	...	Mattis
Helmut Griem	...	Lieutenant Simeon
Philippe Noiret	...	General
Jacques Perrin	...	Drogo
Francisco Rabal	...	Tronk
Fernando Rey	...	Nathanson
Laurent Terzieff	...	Amerling
Jean-Louis Trintignant	...	Le médecin-major Rovin
Max von Sydow	...	Hortiz
Shaban Golchin Honaz	...	Soldat Lazare
Giuseppe Pambieri	...	Lieutenant Rathenau
Bryan Rostron
Kamran Nozad	...	Capitaine Sern
Manfred Freyberger	...	Caporal Montagne

Also Known As:

Die Tartarenwüste (West Germany)
Le désert des Tartares (France)
Le desert des Tartars
The Desert of the Tartars

Runtime:

140 min | France:138 min

Country:

Italy | France | West Germany

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

West Germany:12 (f) | Italy:T | Netherlands:9 (2009) (DVD) | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Arg-e Bam, Iran

Company:

Cinema Due

Quotes:

Drogo: I was sent here by mistake.
Le médecin-major Rovin: Here or elsewhere, we're all somewhere by mistake.

A haunting study of isolation

A film over two hours long set in a remote desert fort, with an all male cast and no action, may seem a daunting prospect, however THE DESERT OF THE TARTARS is a strikingly memorable experience. The characters are full of suppressed emotion and inner turmoil, the strange surrealistic fort a metaphor of their spiritual imprisonment, and the huge expanse of surrounding desert a tangent reminder, day by day, and year by year, of their fears and lost aspirations.

Time passes imperceptibly, and our dashing young lieutenant, played by Jacques Perrin and surrounded by a stellar male cast, ages and weakens as the desert and the constraints of life in the fort strips away his physical strength and inner resolve. He yearns to free himself of the debilitating fort's influence, but finds himself transfixed by the mystical challenges of the landscape, and the perceived danger from the unseen enemy beyond.

The dust of the desert, the artificiality of the military life within the walls of the fort, the rituals and uniforms, the unspoken fears, the friendships and animosities between brother officers, the authority that seldom explains it's decisions, the half-recalled memories of a former life, and the ever present foreboding created by the shadows of the desert, shadows that sometimes give rise to visions of a lurking threat that may, or may not, be hidden in those shadows.

Exemplary colour widescreen photography is aided immeasurably by the haunting themes written by Ennio Moricone, and at the disquieting and ominous conclusion of the film, we are indeed completely mesmerized by an impressionistic, visionary spectacle that will haunt us for a long time after the final credits roll.