El Alamein - The Line of Fire
| El Alamein - The Line of Fire | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Enzo Monteleone |
| Produced by | Marco Chimenz Giovanni Stabilini Riccardo Tozzi |
| Written by | Enzo Monteleone |
| Starring |
Paolo Briguglia Emilio Solfrizzi Pierfrancesco Favino |
| Music by | Pivio and Aldo De Scalzi |
| Cinematography | Daniele Nannuzzi |
| Edited by | Cecilia Zanuso |
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Production
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| Distributed by | Medusa Distribuzione |
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Running time
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117 minutes |
| Country | Italy |
| Language | Italian |
El Alamein - The Line of Fire (Italian: El Alamein - La linea del fuoco, also known as El Alamein: Bond of Honour) is a 2002 Italian war-drama film written and directed by Enzo Monteleone. The film won three David di Donatello awards (for best cinematography, best editing and best sound), a Nastro d'Argento for best sound and a Globo d'oro for best new actor (to Paolo Briguglia). The film is set during the Second battle of El Alamein, which is seen from the Italian perspective.
The film opens in October 1942, when young Private Serra (Paolo Briguglia), a university student from Palermo who has volunteered for the Army, is sent to join his assignment in the 28th Infantry Regiment of the 17th Infantry Division Pavia, deployed near Naqb Rala (El Alamein). Due to Fascist propaganda, he is convinced that Alexandria will be conquered soon, and the Axis advance into Egypt will end in victory.
His certainties, however, soon start to crumble when he is confronted with the grim reality of the life in the trenches during the desert war: Lieutenant Fiore (Emilio Solfrizzi), the platoon commander, is unimpressed by Serra’s enthusiasm, and shows little faith in the prospect of a rapid victory; as soon as Serra reaches his squad, the corporal who has accompanied him is killed by an artillery shell, and all is left of him is an ear. Serra befriends some members of his platoon, Private Spagna (Luciano Scarpa), Corporal De Vita (Thomas Trabacchi), mortar-man Tarozzi (Piero Maggiò) and especially Sergeant Rizzo (Pierfrancesco Favino), his squad commander, a Venetian veteran who has been in Africa for two years; they tell him that each soldier has three "miracles" to spend, before to die. Serra’s first "miracle" has been escaping unharmed the shelling that killed the corporal, while they have long spent their "miracles". The time at the front line passes among many hardships: the heat is unbearable, dysentery is rampant, the food is scarce, the little water available tastes like fuel oil; British artillery shells the Italian positions by day, only giving some rest at night, and vipers and scorpions add to the danger represented by the enemy.
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