QUICK AND DIRTY: LIVE FROM CANNES

Set in the heart of the American Civil War, 1862, The Damned details the exploits of a gang of soldiers traversing unmapped mountains that exists in the Western soil. The audience sees a father praying with his two sons, all of them willing to die for what they believe to be a just and worthy crusade. The soldiers – all of varying ages – travel with a mixture of curiosity, adrenaline and genuine fear, determined to make their place in history. As it happens, each of them combats a growing sense of self-doubt, but the men (there are no women in the cast), remind themselves why they signed up in the first place.

The story begins with some promise, when a lone gunman queries the difference between shooting humans and animals. His questions are met with silence. The silence in this instance reflects neither judgement nor admiration, but outright curiosity, as none of the men have experienced bloodshed. Focusing on the noiselessness, Minervini demonstrates a penchant for slow narration that stands neatly beside Chantal Akerman’s work on Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975). But as soon as it goes down this path, the cuts grow quicker and more frequent, sullying the promise in its tracks.

The Damned shows an individual streak for a war film, in that it features only one battle scene. Sadly, it’s not very good, as director Roberto Minervini utilises a series of outdated fast cut edits that shows virtually none of the geography the Union soldiers find themselves in. It’s like watching a kinetic action scene from Quantum of Solace (Marc Forster, 2008): heavy on adrenaline, low on personal stakes. There are no red herrings, no close-ups, nothing. Characters rush into the battle field, and their survival depends solely on the volition of the auteur behind the camera. Minervini is much more comfortable in handling dialogue, which is more the pity because the concepts – how practicing Christians utilise their beliefs to sanction acts of ungodly violence – are repeated time and time again throughout the script.

Audiences hear variations of the same dialogue uttered by different characters: “God sent his only son down..”; “It says ‘Thou shall not kill..”; “I’ve believed some things that turned out to be false.” Much of it has merit, but The Damned doesn’t build on the foundations that feature in the aphorisms and fables that are uttered over the fire-laden coals. If there was character development during the production, none of it made it past the cutting room floor. Ultimately, The Damned feels half-baked and frustratingly undernourished, wasting the talent on camera.

Of all the ensemble members, Jeremiah Knupp seems the most committed to the premise, conjuring a soldier who is displeased with the lifestyle that he has chosen for himself – Knupp’s character doesn’t have a name, much like everyone else in the product – but the cast commit themselves to the work with some semblance of conviction. Much of the work is silent, leading to ponderous montages exhibiting the 19th century combatants trodding across mountains. If the intention is to make the viewers inhibit lingering claustrophobia, Minervini fails to accomplish this for a number of different reasons.

There’s a lack of backstory: one sixteen year old is courageous enough to reveal his backstory, but the rest hide beneath a veneer of opaque mystery. More than that, the movie is notable for an absence of historical detail Anyone unfamiliar with the Civil War would only discern that these men are federal soldiers due to their disdain for slavery. The camera follows these people on a physical journey, but the internal voyage scarcely gets a look in. However much they speak about their demons, the worries rarely appear outside of the mouths.

The Damned is not a damning indictment of war. Not a damn good movie, either.

It premiered in the Un Certain Regard section of the 77th Cannes International Film Festival, when this piece was originally written. Also showing in the Official Competition of the 2nd Mediterrane Film Festival, in Malta: