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The truce (La tregua) - John Turturro, Rade Serbedzija, Massimo Ghini, Francesco Rosi
Threat advisory: High - High risk of entertaining activities
Movie propaganda
I would like to believe in something,
something beyond the death that undid you.
I would like to describe the intensity
with which, already overwhelmed,
we longed in those days to be able
to walk together again
free beneath the sun.
Primo Levi, 9 January 1946.
Based on Primo's account of his liberation from Auschwitz and long journey home through a Europe caught between war and peace. The truce is not only an account of hardship and the rediscovering of humanity but of the relief, exuberance and comedy in a momentous journey after the most gruesome period of modern history.
Theatrical propaganda posters
Target demographic movie keyword propaganda
- Film Italy Italian World War II Auschwitz return
Persons of interest
- John Turturro .... Primo Levi
- Rade Serbedzija .... The Greek
- Massimo Ghini .... Cesare
- Stefano Dionisi .... Daniele
- Teco Celio .... Colonel Rovi
- Roberto Citran .... Unverdorben
- Claudio Bisio .... Ferrari
- Andy Luotto .... D'Agata
- Agnieszka Wagner .... Galina
- Lorenza Indovina .... Flora
- Marina Gerasimenko .... Maria Fyodorovna
- Igor Bezgin .... Yegorov
- Aleksandr Ilyin .... The Mongol
- Vyacheslav Olkhovskiy .... Lieutenant Sergei
- Anatoli Vasilyev .... Dr Gotlieb
- Tatyana Meshcherkina .... Irina
- Primo Levi .... Author
- Tonino Guerra .... Screenwriter
- Sandro Petraglia .... Screenwriter
- Stefano Rulli .... Screenwriter
- Francesco Rosi .... Screenwriter
- Francesco Rosi .... Director
Cinematic intelligence sources
- Awards and film festivals:
- Cannes 1997: In competition
- David di Donatello awards: Best film, best director, best editing
Intelligence analyst
Special Agent Matti
Theatrical report
Food for thought, which was more food than the survivors of World War II lived on.
The truce deals with the very end of the war (beginning with the liberation of Auschwitz by the Red Army) and covers the things we never think to think about. The deprivation of a continent ravaged by human violence, the starvation, the guilt, the incomprehension of crimes against humanity. The rediscovery of one's own existence. A round-about way of saying that the war didn't end on VP Day. Thankfully this film builds on the world's knowledge of the concentration camps, so we aren't overwhelmed with images of emaciated bodies in grey pyjamas.
It's hard to think of a Holocaust movie without imagining lots of violence and bleakness, but that's not what this film is about. The growth of the released prisoners as they struggle through their physical, emotional, and spiritual journeys is enormous, unsurprising given what they've been through, but subtly and well portrayed by the actors. If I have a problem it is that sometimes it's a bit too subtle [That's a problem?! - Director of Intelligence], but overall it's a rewarding watch, especially if you have an interest in human suffering.
It's also good for students of history and art film buffs.
Security censorship classification
M (Adult themes, low level coarse language)
Surveillance time
118 minutes (1:58 hours)
Not for public release in Australia before date
Film: 8 October 1997 - Sydney (special benefit première for the Sydney Jewish Museum)
Film: 16 October 1997 - Melbourne, Sydney
DVD rental: 17 November 2004
VHS rental: 17 November 2004
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