Greenery Will Bloom Again

SS - Schutzstaffel and the Second World War. SS - "Signore, sì!" and the First World War in the army of the state agreement, allegedly the democratic party of the conflict. Injustice and helplessness do not belong only to explicitly criminal armies like the SS, but to every other as well. The Italian "Yes, sir!" is beautiful proof of that. From a film perspective, it is most interesting to see how Olmi, in order to emphasize the message that the soldier's greatest enemy is not the enemy on the other side of the trench, but his own army, (or the army as such), does not let the Austrians appear on the screen at all. In addition, the inhumanity of the military machinery is manifested despite the fact that each of the characters, including the officers, are normal human beings (the problem of military hierarchy is personalized and depicted as the transgressions of specific individuals for ideological reasons, especially in Anglo-Saxon countries). Thanks to this, the viewer sees that it is precisely the army and war as such that can be blamed for the suffering of the people on the screen. (05/11/2014)