Tiro al piccione

September 1943. The young Marco Laudato tries to enlist in the army of the Republic of Salò, even if he is not so sure about his reasons. During the period of training he becomes friend with Elia, an older comrade. In one of the first retaliatory actions, he gets hurt and is almost considered a hero. He is taken to a hospital where he falls in love with Anna, the nurse who takes care of him. The short romance ends because of Anna’s runaway to Switzerland, together with an industrialist and a deserter, captain Mattei. Marco comes back to his unit. Here, in addition to a new, cruel officer, he finds out that something changed in Elia. He tries to run away as well, but is Marco himself to strike the final blow in front of the firing squad. The Social Republic is at its end. Commander Marco sets up the last attempt to resist, hoping to reach the other Fascist groups. During the crucial fight, the partisans win, the officer kills himself and Marco is there alone among the corpses of the soldiers.
Traduzione in inglese Francesca Sala – English translation Francesca Sala

The end of the ‘50s marked the debut of quite a few directors. This happened also because before there were not enough of them compared to the possibilities of the market, because debuts had been stifled by an ordinary and dull cinema. Between the end of Neorealism and the ‘60s maybe there was a period of masters’ works, but without any great revelation. Later, instead, the time of Pasolini, Olmi, De Seta, Petri and Damiani came, and many others with them. The audience was going back to the cinema and so the producers wanted to keep exploring with new people. I was among them. It wasn’t easy: the production, Ajace by Cervi and Jacovoni, wanted to impose me a French actor, Charrier, while I had a small group of actors that I wanted to work with. I paid for my little experience and maybe I had to be stronger, but I didn’t actually look for that debut, they offered it... I was 29 years old and I thought it could work out anyway. So I made Tiro al piccione.

We can keep telling the partisan story as we told it right after the war. Back then, the Fascists were just the “non men”, using Vittorini’s expression, and were totally out of our subject. They were not even at the opposite pole of a certain dialectic: in the facts that were told, there has never been the idea of setting up a psychological conflict between the two sides. (...)
I think I worked on every film about partisans and Fascists, starting with Achtung banditi by Lizzani: so I know both strengths and weaknesses. What was missing in those films was the chance to be useful, to teach something about that time to the audience: and the reason is that they were just celebratory. Today’s first need is to tell something to who was on the wrong side as well: tell them why. And secondly, there is the urgency to speak to who’s too young to have a clear idea, a mediated opinion about what happened 18 years ago. (...)
It is necessary to tell about those two years from a point of view that can’t change the values, allowing explanations instead. In other words: the point of view that I chose to relive the 600 days of the Republic of Salò is that of a twenty-years-old boy, who enlists as a volunteer with the Fascist troops. This means that at the end of the film, we won’t see the triumph of the democratic forces, but the defeat of the Fascists. However the facts and so the values of the fight can’t be changed, even if the protagonist doesn’t understand them. (...)
At twenty years old, we all run our own adventure, we all make our little attempt to break free. Marco Laudato, the main character, makes it in an exceptional moment, where ideas were extremely confused, values were undermined and every decision was serious and hard to make. (...)
The protagonist of a film can’t be unpleasant, especially if you want to show him clearly in every aspect; but I actually I can’t really feel any congeniality for Fascists. The obvious contradiction is soon solved: Marco’s character is seen through human comprehension, while the description of the historical period is particularly critic. In the end, that’s the topic of the film: a boy full of illusions, unaware of being buried in a dreadful reality, so much larger than he was. (...)
I am convinced more than ever that the events of 18 years ago are still vivid in the hearts of many people, despite the narrow-minded oblivion. I am sure it is good to make this kind of films.

Traduzione in inglese Francesca Sala – English translation Francesca Sala

Director: Giuliano Montaldo.
Plot: dal romanzo omonimo di Giosè Rimanelli.
Screenplay: Giuliano Montaldo, Fabrizio Onofri, Ennio De Concini, Luciano Martino.
Director of photography: Carlo Di Palma.
Art director: Carlo Egidi.
Costume designer: Pier Luigi Pizzi.
Editor: Nino Baragli.
Music: Carlo Rustichelli.
Cast and characters: Jacques Charrier (Marco Laudato), Eleonora Rossi Drago (Anna), Francisco Rabal (Elia), Sergio Fantoni (Nardi), Carlo D'Angelo (Mattei), Gastone Moschin, Silla Bettini, Franco Balducci, Enzo Cerusico, Loris Bazzocchi, Enrico Glori, Franco Perucci, Maria Grazia Franchi, Franco Lantieri.
Production company: Alessandro Jacovoni, per la Ajace-Euro International Film.
Italian distribution: Euro International Film.