23/11/2006

A handful of men, far too young and inexperienced to go to war, and a rather rude but effective Dominican priest, all set to the backdrop of the African military mission pushed by Italy and Germany in 1941. Loosely based on Mario Tobino’s book Il deserto della Libia and the story "Il soldato Sanna" in the collection Guerra d'Albania by Giancarlo Fusco, Le rose del deserto (The Desert Roses) is Mario Monicelli’s 65th film.

It will be released by Mikado Film on December 1 on 230 screens and is about the horrors of the war told through the personal stories of the soldiers of the 3rd Regiment of the 31st Medical Corps, who are sent to Sorman, in the Libyan desert, to set up a field hospital to help wounded soldiers and needy locals.

After an initial calm period, during which commander Stefano Strucci mainly writes to his wife, and lieutenant doctor Marcello Salvi photographs the surrounding countryside, relations with the Arabs become tense and British bombers start to darken the sky overhead.

"I realised", said Monicelli at the press conference after the film’s presentation, "that very little was known about this war, which was lost like many others and had never been chronicled. Tobino’s novel moved and inspired me. Like me, he had also been to war. Like me, he lived through and witnessed these events, so I decided to make a film about them to let other people get to know them as well. I also wanted to re-create the atmosphere in the novel, to show that the desert is not just sunshine and pink dunes, but also terrible sands and dried palms. There is nothing romantic about it".

The film stars Michele Placido, Alessandro Haber, Giorgio Pasotti, and the critic Tatti Sanguineti (taking up the role of actor once again after having appeared in Nanni Moretti’s The Caiman [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jean Labadie
interview: Nanni Moretti
film profile]), as well as many non-professional actors, and was shot in the Tunisian desert.

At the film's presentation, Placido said: "Tonight, the Italian president will see the film’s premiere, but this movie could have been given more attention and perhaps even a bit more money".