Underplayed Gems

Once More Unto the Breach (2019)

Once More Unto the Breach poster
Original title
Il varco
Directed by
Michele Manzolini, Federico Ferrone
Genre
documentary film
Country
Italy
Runtime
1h 10m
Rating
6.4 of 10 from 7 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

This film is a work of fiction built entirely from World War II archive footage. It follows soldiers moving through wartime landscapes, focusing on the physical and emotional experience of combat. The film uses the found materials to create a new narrative about war.

archivalreflectivesombermeditativehistoricalfragmentedgrittyimmersive

What happens

Once More Unto the Breach (Italian: Il varco, lit. 'The Gate') is a fiction film created with archive materials shot during World War II. The film's premiere took place during the 76th Venice Film Festival. In 2020, the film editor Maria Fantastica Valmori won the award for best editing at the European Film Awards. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

This page is from Underplayed Gems. Not quite it? You can browse by genre, country and year, or take this one into the 3D catalogue and ask the Catbot for something closer.