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Minervini built the sets in Montana and let the actors live there for two months
Scenario
In the winter of 1862, during the Civil War, the US Army sends a company of volunteers to patrol the unexplored western territories. The spoken dialogues and thoughts are those that the actors created while living in the desert, imagining themselves as soldiers of the Civil War. Cursed: In the winter of 1862, a volunteer detachment of Union soldiers was sent to protect the mountainous territory, we are not told where it is, we are not even given the names of the soldiers.
We see mobile temporaries, shots are fired at distant horsemen
After the departure of regular troops, they come under the command of a patriarch in the style of John Brown with a flowing beard, his teenage sons are also enrolled in the army. The army is a mixed group, some of them middle-aged and even elderly, most of them in their thirties. Everyone lacks military experience, knowledge is shared and skills are transferred.
The buffalo was shot and killed
The desert landscape, the hills, the mountain meadows, the falling snow, the lack of cold rations all contribute to a growing sense of existential despair. The battle is going on, we don’t see the enemy, we see unit losses. War is a thing, especially when you no longer know why you are there.
Some of them delay their reception
A film in the style of Ken Loach, without certain everyday dialogues and a lot of ordinary people playing amateurs like soldiers. This improvisation leads to philosophical, religious and political discussions at the campfire. But this is a small distraction from this crude portrait of men at war.