''The Truce'' () is a 1997 film directed by

Francesco Rosi Francesco Rosi (; 15 November 1922 – 10 January 2015) was an Italian film director and screenwriter. His film '' The Mattei Affair'' won the Palme d'Or at the 1972 Cannes Film Festival. Rosi's films, especially those of the 1960s and 1970s, of ...

, who co-wrote the screenplay with Stefano Rulli and

Sandro Petraglia Sandro Petraglia (; born 19 April 1947) is an Italian screenwriter. He began his career in the early 1970s as a film critic, writing for the May 68 May 68 () was a period of widespread protests, strikes, and civil unrest in France that be ...

, and its story treatment with

Tonino Guerra Antonio "Tonino" Guerra (16 March 1920 – 21 March 2012) was an Italian poet, writer and screenwriter who collaborated with some of the most prominent film directors, such as Andrei Tarkovsky, Michelangelo Antonioni, Theo Angelopoulos, and Fede ...

based on

Primo Levi Primo Michele Levi (; 31 July 1919 – 11 April 1987) was a Jewish Italian chemist, partisan, Holocaust survivor and writer. He was the author of several books, collections of short stories, essays, poems and one novel. His best-known works i ...

's memoir, ''

The Truce ''The Truce'' (), titled ''The Reawakening'' in the US, is a book by the Italian author Primo Levi. It is the sequel to ''If This Is a Man'' and describes the author's experiences from the liberation of Auschwitz ( Monowitz), which was a concent ...

''. The film deals with Primo Levi's experiences returning to Italy in 1945 after the Red Army liberated the

concentration camp A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploitati ...

Auschwitz Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It consisted of Auschw ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. This was Rosi's final film before his death in 2015.

Plot

Although liberated on January 27, 1945, Levi did not reach Turin until October 19 of that year. After spending some time in a Soviet camp for former concentration camp inmates, he embarked on an arduous journey home in the company of Italian former

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...

from the

Italian Army in Russia The Italian Army in Russia (; ARMIR) was a combined force the size of a field army unit of the ''Regio Esercito'' (Royal Italian Army) which fought on the Eastern Front during World War II between July 1942 and April 1943. The ARMIR was also know ...

. His long railway journey home to Turin took him on a circuitous route from Poland, through Russia, Romania, Hungary, Austria and Germany.

Cast

John Turturro John Michael Turturro ( ; born February 28, 1957) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for his varied roles in independent films, and has worked frequently with the Coen brothers and Spike Lee. He has received a Primetime Emmy Award a ...

Rade Šerbedžija Rade Šerbedžija ( sr-Cyrl, Раде Шербеџија, ; born 27 July 1946) is a Croatian actor, director and musician. He is known for his portrayals of imposing figures on both sides of the law. He was one of the best known Yugoslav actors ...

- The Greek (Morda Naum) *

Massimo Ghini Massimo Ghini (born 12 October 1954) is an Italian actor. Life He has worked with Franco Zeffirelli, Giorgio Strehler, Giuseppe Patroni Griffi, and Gabriele Lavia, among others. He has been married to actress Nancy Brilli, and is the father ...

- Cesare *

Stefano Dionisi Stefano Dionisi (born 1 October 1966, in Rome) is an Italian actor. He has performed in more than sixty films since 1986. He is best known for portraying the 18th-century Italian castrato opera singer ''Farinelli Farinelli (; 24 January 17 ...

- Daniele * Teco Celio - Col. Rovi *

Roberto Citran Roberto Citran (born 26 January 1955) is an Italian actor. Life and career Born in Padua, Citran graduated in psychology and founded the university film club CinemaUno. After some sporadic stage works he founded a small theater company, "Punto ...

- Unverdorben *

Claudio Bisio Claudio Bisio (; born 19 March 1957) is an Italian actor, presenter, comedian, voice actor, showman, director, cabaret performer and writer. Early life Bisio was born in Novi Ligure, Piedmont, and raised in Milan, Lombardy. He attended '' sc ...

- Ferrari *

Andy Luotto André Paul "Andy" Luotto (born 30 July 1950) is an American actor, comedian, musician, chef, and restaurateur. He has resided in Italy since the mid-1970s, where he is a prolific television personality, and is the owner and operator of the Lá re ...

- D'Agata *

Agnieszka Wagner Agnieszka Wagner (born 17 December 1970) is a Polish actress. She has appeared in more than fifty films since 1989. Selected filmography References External links * 1970 births Living people Polish film actresses Polish people of ...

- Galina *

Lorenza Indovina Lorenza Indovina (born 5 October 1966) is an Italian actress. Life and career Born in Rome, the daughter of the director Franco Indovina, she studied acting at the Silvio D'Amico National Academy of Dramatic Arts, graduating in 1991. She m ...

- Flora * Marina Gerasimenko - Maria Fyodorovna * Igor Bezgin - Yegorov * Aleksandr Ilyin - The Mongol * Vyacheslav Olkhovskiy - Lt. Sergei * Anatoli Vasilyev - Dr. Gotlieb

Reception

Whereas the film can be seen as belonging to the tradition of the "cinema of prose," it also contributes to the "cinema of poetry," as defined by

Pier Paolo Pasolini Pier Paolo Pasolini (; 5 March 1922 – 2 November 1975) was an Italian poet, film director, writer, actor and playwright. He is considered one of the defining public intellectuals in 20th-century Italian history, influential both as an artist ...

. Brian Webster, writing for the ''Apollo Guide'', finds the film "a war story with little violence and virtually no sentimentality. If you're not ready for it, you might find The Truce passing before your eyes without making much of an impact. It doesn't smack you in the face with a powerful message, but instead works its way inside you more gradually." The film opened on 71 screens in Italy and grossed $414,890 in its opening weekend, ranking sixth at the box office. After three weeks it had grossed $1.4 million. In the US and Canada it grossed $71,448.

Awards

This film won the David for Best Director, Best Film and Best Producer at the

David di Donatello Awards The David di Donatello Awards, named after Donatello's ''David'', a symbolic statue of the Italian Renaissance, are film awards given out each year by the ''Accademia del Cinema Italiano'' (the Academy of Italian Cinema). There are 26 award ca ...

. It also won the Audience Award at the

São Paulo International Film Festival The São Paulo International Film Festival (), also known internationally as Mostra, is an annual film festival held in the city of São Paulo, Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South Ame ...

. It was nominated for the

Palme d'Or The (; ) is the highest prize awarded to the director of the Best Feature Film of the Official Competition at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festiv ...

at the

1997 Cannes Film Festival The 50th Cannes Film Festival took place from 7 to 18 May 1997. French actress Isabelle Adjani served as jury president for the main competition. Jeanne Moreau hosted the opening and closing ceremonies. The Palme d'Or was jointly awarded to Iran ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Truce 1997 films 1997 drama films Italian drama films Biographical films about Jewish people Films about the aftermath of the Holocaust Films based on works by Primo Levi Films set in Poland Films directed by Francesco Rosi Films scored by Luis Bacalov Jews and Judaism in Italy Aftermath of World War II in the Soviet Union 1990s Italian-language films English-language Italian films 1990s English-language films Latin-language films Aftermath of World War II in Poland 1945 in Poland 1945 in the Soviet Union Jewish refugees Italian refugees Displaced persons camps in the aftermath of World War II World War II films based on actual events Eastern Front of World War II films 1997 multilingual films Italian multilingual films Warner Bros. films Miramax films