The Battle of San
Pietro
Director:
John Huston
Year: 1945
Rating: 8.0
This rather remarkable 30 minute documentary details the battle of San Pietro
at the end of 1943. This small charming Italian town unfortunately lay in
the middle of a strategic gateway north. The Germans were heavily dug in
and the US infantry had to drive them out at close range. They succeeded
with extraordinary guts but some 1,100 of them were to perish over those
few days.
Directed by John Huston and lensed by Jules Buck (who would later become
a producer), this film takes you right into the fight, right into the heart
of darkness. Incredibly dangerous camera work. Houston and Buck do not shy
away from showing death. A lot of corpses are on display - at the end being
put into body bags. You have to sit back at times and say to yourself, this
is not a movie - this is real - those are real men going into battle and
being shot at, those are real dead bodies of men who gave their all.
The film was not released till May of 1945. The War Department which sponsored
the film didn't think it appropriate to raising morale - in fact called it
anti-war - to which Huston replied "If I ever make a pro-war film, I hope
they shoot me". In the end the town of San Pietro is utterly destroyed, but
the villagers come out of the caves they were hiding in to begin to rebuild.
Today about 1,000 people live there.