The Damned 2024 WEB-DL.1080p Download via Torrent
21/23
In the winter of 1862, during the Civil War, the U.S. Army sent a volunteer company to patrol the uncharted western territories. Minervini had the set built in Montana and then let the actor live in it for two months. The dialogue and thoughts the actors had while living in the wilderness and imagining themselves as Civil War soldiers. The Damned: In the winter of 1862, a volunteer unit of Union soldiers is sent to defend a mountainous area, the location is not revealed, and we don’t learn the names of the soldiers. After the regular troops leave, they are placed under the command of a John Brown-style, bearded patriarch, and his teenage sons also enlist. The soldiers are a mixed group, some are middle-aged and even elderly, mostly in their thirties. Not everyone has military experience, knowledge is shared, and skills are transferable. We witness mobile guards, shots fired at distant horsemen. A buffalo is shot and killed. The bleak landscape, the hills, the mountain meadows, the blown snow, the low altitude all contribute to the feeling of existential despair. A battle is taking place, we see not the enemy but the loss of units. War is hell, especially when you no longer know why you are there. A Ken Loach-style film, without daily dialogue and with many ordinary people acting like soldiers in an amateurish way. This improvisation leads to philosophical, religious and political discussions around campfires. Some of it is welcome. But this is only a small distraction from the raw depiction of men at war. Screenplay and direction by Roberto Minervini, 8/10.