The Desert of the Tartars

A fortress waiting for a siege. A battle without bloodshed. An enemy that does not exist. Valerio Zurlini's last film is not a typical war movie with historical trappings. The Italian director, who was fascinated with existentialist philosophy, focused on recreating the atmosphere of the literary prototype, the enigmatic novel by the master of the short form, Dino Buzzati. Antonioni and Visconti had considered adapting it for the big screen earlier, but the rights belonged to actor Jacques Perrin, who approached his film mentor, Valerio Zurlini, for the role of director. This is the story of a young lieutenant named Drogo, who is serving for the first time at Bastiani Fortress, somewhere on the frontier. The war with the eponymous Tartars takes place, however, without a shot being fired on the battlefield, but rather only in the minds of the protagonists. Their main enemy is the passage of time. Staring out at the silent desert, exquisitely shot by Luciano Tovoli, they wonder about the sense of awaiting glory and remaining on guard. Shot in Iran, the film is an allegory that brings to mind Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot.