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DVD Last Letters from Monte Rosa
 Run time: 88 min Rating: 7.2 Genres: Action | Drama Director: Ari Taub Writers: Caio Ribeiro Stars: Daniel Asher, C.J. Barkus, Gianluca Bianco |
| Storyline Set in Northern Italy during the last embers of the war, the beleaguered vanguard of Axis forces suffer daily bombings and the constant threat of attack from local partisans. Tempers begin to flare between these ‘allies’ as they await their impending doom. Written by Anonymous |
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| Plot Keywords: italy, sending letters, world war two | |
| Details: Country: USA Release Date: 1 January 2011 (UK) |
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| Box Office Budget: $300,000 (estimated) |
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When I sat down to watch "Last Letters from Monte Rosa" or "The Final Sacrifice" as was the title I watched it under, I had no idea that it was a film made by Ari Taub, the director of "The Fallen". However, as the film progressed, I began to get an unnerving sense of deja vu. I had seen this all before, I thought to myself, but where? The give away came with the wine deal between the American soldier and the Italian partisan gangster. And I knew right then that something had to give, as many scenes were reminiscent, or completely derived, from "The Fallen" – an awfully bland and boring film made by Ari Taub in 2004. So "Last Letters from Monte Rosa" is essentially a remake of that low-budget war film, and boy, is it a huge improvement! Ari Taub deserves a lot of credit and praise for this project, which is described as being seven years in the making. Fair play to him for sticking to his guns, and finally making the picture he wanted. However, what unnerves me a bit is that no where is it mentioned that "Last Letters from Monte Rosa" is a film completely scavenged from an earlier film by the director. Hardly anyone has even mentioned this (They probably aren't even aware of it, actually). It's as if he has completely discredited that earlier film. I don't blame him, but still. It doesn't seem right.
The plot is exactly the same as "The Fallen", and many of the same actors reprise their roles (Hence, it is a remake!) – Set in Italy in 1944, the film follows the hardships faced by German soldiers anticipating the inevitable American advance towards them, as they are attacked daily by American bombers. Hungry, filthy and completely disillusioned with the war, they are also attacked daily by Italian partisan (Guerilla fighters) snipers and ambushes. Hope arrives in the form of a small group of Italian soldiers, led by Lt. Pietro (Fabio Sartor). However, the Germans are unwilling to fight alongside the poorly trained Italian troops, who have proved to be a hindrance more than anything else to them throughout the course of the war so far. Many of the Germans recognise the war as a lost cause at this stage, while the Italians suffer from conflicting emotions as to why they are fighting against their own people on their own land. In all the film offers a unique insight into the minds of the Axis troops during the final year of the war when defeat seemed inevitable.
I love watching war films that offer a unique perspective from the German soldiers in WW2. Films such as "Das Boot", "Cross of Iron" and "Stalingrad" offer invaluable and unique insights into the minds of the German soldiers in the war, reminding us at the end of the day that these men were not much different than the English and American men sent away from home to fight in a war they didn't want to be in. Ari Taub's earlier effort "The Fallen" offered viewpoints from the German soldiers, the Italian soldiers, the American soldiers and the partisans, which was a good idea but the film failed in many aspects; the editing for starters was really bad and it just did not flow at a good pace, leaving me feeling exhausted by the end of it. He makes a good decision here with "Last Letters from Monte Rosa" and that is in disregarding the American perspective and concentrating fully on the others. Who needs to see the Allied perspective when it's all we have been seeing for the last fifty years? The acting is fairly decent, and credit to the actors who reprise their roles, because it has to be said that they probably weren't being paid much due to the very low-budget, but Fabio Sartor, Thomas Pohn and Carmine Raspaolo are three notable actors who do so. The action is minimal, but quite good for a low-budget film. However, that being said, many scenes are just taken from "The Fallen" and edited into this. It's quite distracting but overall, I enjoyed it because I seen it as a huge improvement. Essentially a remake, but Ari Taub does it right second time around.
This film has all the quintessential elements a film should possess-a superb cast, an untold story delivered from a unique perspective, wonderful writing interspersed with moments both light and humorous as well as thought-provoking, and a wonderful director at its helm. It beautifully conveys the banality of everyday life for front-line troops combined with the sheer terror of modern warfare and enables the American viewer to empathize with an enemy fighter in a way that few war movies have done in the past. Although I was surprised by the high level of realism and technical detail achieved by the film, it was the relationship of the German and Italian soldiers, a relationship that has rarely been explored despite Hollywood's obvious fascination with the European theater, that truly carried the film. The tension-filled, yet often comical dynamic between the downtrodden soldiers of the two armies, seemingly fighting for dramatically divergent goals, fully captivated me, allowing me to forget that the American GI was little more than an afterthought in the film. A film that is particularly relevant for our times and should be viewed by all-highly recommended!
What I really enjoyed about Ari's film, is the humanism in the face of war. We think of war as very dark and scary. And it is. Yet, there is more to life and more to humans than the focus of war itself. And there is always more than one side of 'the truth'.
In "Last Letters from Monte Rosa", we see the internal conflicts, as well as the external and how human beings relate and interact with one another, in a forced situation. We are shown that we can't escape ourselves. The heart will still have a place even in a time of war. And how different people can form unique bonds of understanding with one another and face their own individual challenges under difficult circumstances.
I really think that showing the heart of what it means to be human is Ari's strength. I hope Ari continues to make films showing the just how 'human' our lives are.
"Last Letters from Stalingrad", the 1950 compilation of the supposedly authentic war letters of Nazi soldiers caught in the bloodiest WW2 battle, has become the primary source of inspiration for the unprecedented war epic portraying the last days of WWII fighting in Italy – "The Fallen" and its second part "The Last Letters of Monte Rosa". Authenticity, viewed here as a meticulous, accurate re-enactment of the historical details – battleground weapons from period rifles to tanks and planes, soldiers' uniforms, etc – is more than sufficient condition for the compassionate and intimate presentation of the war daily routine with its sudden changes and upheavals, its cruelties and its rites. In this shoe-string budget production the up-and-coming filmmaker Ari Taub brings fear, absurdity and humor (all related to everyday realities of war) – into their proper balance.
In "Letters" the enemy (the Allies) is not personified, and our attention is focused instead on the uneasy relations between the German infantry and the Italian troops mercilessly raided by the partisans. Hollywood storytelling conventions are inevitable for such a traditional narrative, shot at the same time with – but started even before – the late-nineties wave of WWII epic blockbusters like "Thin Red Line", "Saving Private Ryan" or "Ivo Jima". At the same time a certain theatricality of the everyday, certain comical twists of even the most sad episodes, a true indie spirit of his "Letters" has radically distinguish the film from the glitz and glamour of the "dream factory".
Almost as ambiguous as "Last Letters from Stalingrad", Taub's retro-version also does its best to show a "human document which bares the soul of the man at his worst hour". Moreover, due to its unique balance between the tragic and the comical it provides a true Aristotelean, cathartic release of the emotions, especially in the final scene of German martyrdom and their last photograph for the American magazine (hence for posterity).
After all, Ari might be short for Aristotle.