La Grande Guerra (1959)

The brilliance of La Grande Guerra lies in its direction. Mario Monicelli is able perfectly to capture the satirical comedy for which he is known, the critique of war that calls such violence absurd, while also mercilessly showing us the damage that war does.

The characters are cowards, to be sure, but they are ethical and wise. They simply do not buy into the theory that war is good.

The film is absolutely genius, and if the tone of the movie is frequently comic, Monicelli's satire is consistently undergirded by carnage, by Marxist critique, and by an absolute refusal to see soldiers as heroes.

This is a kind of film that won't be seen again until Arthur Hiller's The Americanization of Emily in 1964, and even then won't be done as well as La Grande Guerra.