What a waste of my time!!!

Best movie ever!

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

Hollywood tends to make films about what happens "outside" a person, about action, about guns and explosions, and about rapid-fire cutting and dialog; many European filmmakers do just the opposite and develop "interior" stories, about what goes on inside a person's mind, about how their actions are driven by their environment; the environment in this little-known but complex desert epic is an ancient fort built on the edge of two countries where nothing much seems to happen, but where the inhabitants wait...and wait...and where a new officer arrives hoping to make his mark. Many folks will find the lack of direct action frustrating, as this is a character study more than anything else--but what characters! And what an outstanding group of actors--and subtle music by Ennio Morricone--and some fascinating cinematography.

If you're expecting an action film, then you'll be disappointed. If you'd like to experience a different type of war film, then you're in for a treat. The premise is simple, a junior officer is sent on his first posting to a distance fort on the outskirts of the empire. With the isolation goes promotion opportunities and perhaps imminent glory on the battle field. The problem is that no one has seen the "Northern Kingdom" soldiers for sure, but signs of advanced scouting parties keep the men's hopes up and helps to alleviate the daily grind of training and preparation. The belief that a border incursion is pending has kept some of soldiers at the fort for their entire careers. The cinematography is spectacular and works hand in hand with the tension of anticipation. The viewer is effectively drawn into the stiff military culture and the mentality of the soldiers, but like them you have a sinking feeling that although the day of reckoning is very close it may never come.

A film over two hours long set in a remote desert fort, with an all male cast and no action, may seem a daunting prospect, however THE DESERT OF THE TARTARS is a strikingly memorable experience. The characters are full of suppressed emotion and inner turmoil, the strange surrealistic fort a metaphor of their spiritual imprisonment, and the huge expanse of surrounding desert a tangent reminder, day by day, and year by year, of their fears and lost aspirations.Time passes imperceptibly, and our dashing young lieutenant, played by Jacques Perrin and surrounded by a stellar male cast, ages and weakens as the desert and the constraints of life in the fort strips away his physical strength and inner resolve. He yearns to free himself of the debilitating fort's influence, but finds himself transfixed by the mystical challenges of the landscape, and the perceived danger from the unseen enemy beyond.The dust of the desert, the artificiality of the military life within the walls of the fort, the rituals and uniforms, the unspoken fears, the friendships and animosities between brother officers, the authority that seldom explains it's decisions, the half-recalled memories of a former life, and the ever present foreboding created by the shadows of the desert, shadows that sometimes give rise to visions of a lurking threat that may, or may not, be hidden in those shadows.Exemplary colour widescreen photography is aided immeasurably by the haunting themes written by Ennio Moricone, and at the disquieting and ominous conclusion of the film, we are indeed completely mesmerized by an impressionistic, visionary spectacle that will haunt us for a long time after the final credits roll.

From the great Italian book "il Deserto dei Tartari" by Dino Buzzati - one of the masters of European 20th century - Valerio Zurlini managed this strange film with a great cast of characters. In a lost fort named Bastiano in the heart of an unknown dessert some soldiers are waiting for an attack to give a sense to their life.This is the story of a great part of us and this is what Buzzati thought. The life of Giovanni Drogo (Giuliano Gemma) - young lieutenant - is inside the fort like our life is inside something perhaps more immaterial but very similar.