Persian Realm

Desert Of The Tartars follows a young recruit of the Austro-Hungarian Imperial army as he takes up his first post at a remote fort. The film was entirely shot in Iranat the Bam Citadel in Iran in 1976. It remains a haunting film for movie buffs, all the more that the Citadel was entirely destroyed a few years ago in a Deadly earthquake.

Desert of the Tartars (1976) directed by Valerio Zurlini and starring Jaques Perrin,Philippe Noiret, Max Von Sydow, Giuliano Gemma, Vittorio Gassman

Original Trailer :

*******************************

*******************************

Selection of Scenes from the Film

******************************
******************************

Opening Scene:

Longing in the Desert:

No Enemy in the Horizon:

The Cold Blooded Murder Of a Soldier who forgot his password:

Max Von Sydow’s Suicide:

Ennio Morricone ‘s Music Score for ''The Desert of the Tartars - Reprise''. ( Live in Venice ) :

About the Film:

Adapted from the 1940 novel by Italian author Dino Buzzati, Desert Of The Tartars follows a young recruit of the Austro-Hungarian Imperial army as he takes up his first post at the far-flung fort of Bastiano, which overlooks a desert and a hostile mountain range (presumably in Russia). Buzzati’s text was set in an undefined period and location, but Zurlini has transported the strongly allegorical, myth-like story to 19th Century Europe without too much trouble. The film was essentially shot at the Bam Citadel in Iran in 1976 with the help of the Iranian Imperial Army ( dressed up in Austro Hungarian Uniforms) just three years before the Islamic Revolution.

The protagonist, Lieutenant Drogo (Jaques Perrin) is hungry for action, and is disappointed to find Bastiano a sort of sedate gentlemen’s club, where dinner is candle-lit and accompanied by a chamber orchestra, and the only fighting the officers see is a bout of fencing in the gym. Drogo finds the station stuffy and uneventful, and is determined to get out at the first opportunity.

He initially tries to obtain a transfer to a more active base, but Bastiano gradually becomes his island of the lotus-eaters – weeks, months pass and still he is unable to leave. Meanwhile, secrets, mysteries and doubts gradually surface, the most pressing of which the ghostly white horses and riders who often come into view not far from the fort. Drogo’s concern is met with a wall of stubborn denial from his superiors, who refuse to investigate further.

Competently filmed and acted and, by all accounts faithful to the novel, the film offers a Kafkaesque outlook on the Imperial army’s nightmarish, and surreal bureaucracy.

Recommended Reading and Photo Essay:

Related Blogs:

OTTO VON HABSBURG (1912-2011): Austria Holds National Funeral for It’s Last Emperor

ROYALTY ON SCREEN: Omar Sharif in The tragedy of Mayerling