The Silent Mountain
| The Silent Mountain | |
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DVD cover
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| Directed by | Ernst Gossner |
| Produced by | Heinz Stussak Ernst Gossner |
| Written by | Clemens Aufderklamm |
| Starring |
William Moseley Eugenia Costantini Claudia Cardinale Fritz Karl Werner Daehn Emily Cox Brigitte Jaufenthaler Harald Windisch |
| Music by | Gregor Narholz |
| Cinematography | Daniela Knapp |
| Edited by |
Florian Miosge Janine Dauterich Evi Romen |
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Release date
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Running time
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94 minutes |
| Country | Austria |
| Language | English |
The Silent Mountain is a 2014 war drama written by Clemens Aufderklamm and produced and directed by Ernst Gossner set in the Dolomite Mountains 1915. The Silent Mountain is a love story set in the Dolomiti Mountains at the outbreak of World War I between Italy and Austria-Hungary in 1915.
The story begins on May 1915 in South Tyrol where Anderl Gruber, a son of a rich hotel owner, is attending the wedding of his sister Elisabeth (Lisl) with Italian Angelo Calzolari. There, he meets Angelo's sister Francesca, with whom he falls in love. However, the same day Italy declares war on Austria-Hungary. The tensions present between Austrians and Italians immediately escalate into the conflict between them, and they both join their respective armies. With expulsion of Italians by the villagers Francesca is forced to hide her identity. However, Fritz Weinberger, a local teacher who returns from the front and who has particularly strong hatred towards Italians, exploits this and offers Francesca to protect her identity in exchange for sexual favors.
Austrian platoon occupies the adjacent mountains and repulse initial assaults of Alpini who are trying to climb a mountain. Later they are reinforced by German Gebirgsjäger unit. Meanwhile, Anderl discovers Francesca's affair with Fritz and returns to the front in rage where he single-handedly repulses a massive attack of Italian infantry. As the following Italian offensives also fail, Nicola Quinziato, the commander of Italian garrison orders Angelo, an experienced civil engineer, to dig a tunnel below the Austrian positions. Initially it is planned to launch an offensive through the tunnels, but later Quinziato decides to set the explosives below the mountain to blow up the Austrian troops. Angelo is discharged immediately after that and sent to the regular infantry, thus exposing him to the dangers of the war.
Some time later, Angelo is caught by the Austrians where he reveals the Italian plans to blow up the mountain. Anderl helps Angelo to return to their village, while the German and Austrian troops decide to hold the mountain despite the imminent danger. Unfortunately, Angelo's identity is quickly discovered and he is summarily executed by the Austrian troops, with Elisabeth watching.
Anderl looks for Francesca, forgives her and leads her out of the village to the mountains. They arrive close to the Austrian positions in the moment of explosion which annihilates the Austrian stronghold. They then leave the valley and Anderl later often thinks about their mountain, a mountain without the soldiers.
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Wikipedia