Sodan helvetti

On September 8 1943, Armistice day, there was a great wave of hope that the war was over, but there was also a great deal of confusion. The army was in disarray and most of the soldiers only wanted to go home. Alberto Innocenzi, a second lieutenant, tries to keep his regiment together and reach headquarters to find out what to do. He is in the company of just a few soldiers: sergeant Fornaciari, sapper Ceccarelli, and the artilleryman Codegato, and he decides to go with them towards their respective hometowns. The journey, though, is beset with difficulties which show just how far off the end of the war is. Artilleryman Codegato, having helped a Jewish woman captured by the Germans, is the first to succumb. Then it's the turn of Farnaciari, arrested together with his wife for having sheltered an American soldier. Now by themselves, Innocenzi and Ceccarelli arrive at the home of the lieutenant's father who wants his son to enlist with the Salo' Republic's army. Disgusted, Innocenzi has no other choice than to follow Ceccarelli to Naples where they find the Germans and a mass uprising waiting for them. (Venice International Film Festival)