Roberto Minervini’s narrative debut “The Damned” revisits the U.S. Civil Battle in a cinema verite fashion. Minervini, who has helmed a slew of documentary movies, deployed his nonfiction methods for the characteristic that premiered on the 2024 Cannes Movie Competition within the Un Sure Regard program. Minervini gained the Greatest Director award for “The Damned” on the competition.
Jeremiah Knupp, René W. Solomon, Cuyler Ballenger, Noah Carlson, Judah Carlson, Tim Carlson, and Invoice Gehring are among the many actors taking part in Civil Battle troopers within the characteristic set throughout the winter of 1862. The official synopsis reads: “Within the midst of the Civil Battle, the U.S. Military sends an organization of volunteer troopers to the western territories, with the duty of patrolling the uncharted borderlands. As their mission finally modifications course, the that means behind their engagement begins to elude them.”
Minervini mentioned in a press assertion that “The Damned” units out to undo the tropes of different warfare movies.
“I’ve all the time had a problem with warfare motion pictures due to the archetypes which can be current in them: the thought of the simply trigger, good versus evil, revenge, heroism,” he mentioned. “There’s by no means been an strategy that I might name humane. As a substitute we’ve archetypes that propagate false concepts and beliefs about warfare. It’s loopy to me that folks are inclined to belief a authorities — particularly right here within the U.S. however not solely right here — in issues of warfare and protection. Battle turns into an untouchable factor and the heroism of warfare turns into one thing sacred.”
“The Damned” additionally has a timeliness to it amid the present American political local weather. “This movie is closely knowledgeable by my earlier work, for certain, and by my expertise of dwelling within the South for greater than a decade,” Minervini mentioned. “It was a really aware selection to return to a second the place a variety of these roots have been being planted: the good divide between North and South, Christianity, a type of poisonous masculinity. I wished to know how these points persist, why there may be nonetheless a variety of nostalgia for the Civil Battle, how that point formed a way of mistrust towards establishments. I wished the movie to tie into the expertise of people that have been left in limbo throughout the warfare, in the course of a transition from very conservative values to a brand new society: individuals who didn’t even know what to combat for. Many within the U.S. Military have been mercenaries who enlisted with out absolutely greedy the trigger. With a rustic in shambles, individuals took sides, typically geographically, typically opportunistically. The strategy right here was to place a bunch of individuals in the course of nowhere, or fairly within the wilds of Montana, who’re attempting to determine why they’re there.”
“The Damned” is produced by Paolo Benzi for Okta Movie, Denise Ping Lee and Roberto Minervini for Pulpa Movie, and Paolo Del Brocco for Rai Cinema. Teresa Mannino, Jean-Alexandre Luciani, and Annette Fausboll govt produce.
“The Damned” opens in theaters Might 16. Take a look at the trailer under.
