Major attraction
Bam was location for 1976 film "The Desert of
the Tartars"
By Darius Kadivar
January 20, 2004
iranian.com
 When
Dino Buzzati expressed his vision for a screen adaptation of his
novel, The
Desert of the Tartars, he certainly could not have imagined
that the sets in which the film would
be shot would use the maginificent sand citadel of Bam. The tragic earthquake
which recently devastated the entire city of Bam makes the words of Buzzati
resonate even with more tragic power.
The Desert of the Tartars first appeared in the late spring
of 1940, while Buzzati was in East Africa as a special correspondent
of Corriere
della Sera. Italy's entering the war was by then simply a
question of days. The book would have come out a couple of months
earlier if it had not been for a last-minute problem: the Fascist
regime censors had forbidden the use of the third person singular
while the dialogue of the Steppe made abundant use of
it.
One of Buzzati's dearest friends, professor Arturo Brambilla,
made all the changes from third singular to second plural, but
this naturally caused a certain amount of delay. Buzzati's novel
set in a no man's land desert could also be interpreted as a hidden
criticism of Benito Mussolini military campaign in Ethiopia back
in 1935 which led the Emperor Haile Selassie to plead in
vain for his countries independence in front of the League of Nations.
Buzzati's novel has become a classic of surreal literature since
its first publication. In some ways Buzzati can be compared to
an "Italian Orwell" sharing with the famed British author
of "1984" a
nightmarish and dark vision of humanity and its shortcomings. In
1976 Italian director Valerio Zurlini decides to adapt Buzzati's
novel to the screen. The film was to become a classic involving
some of the times greatest european stars, who were to shoot in
this Kafkaesque story in one of the most enigmatic looking desert
citadels in the World: That of the Savafid fort of Bam in Iran.
In the mid seventies French actor and producer Jacques Perrin
who had bought the screen rights to the Buzzati's novel and decided to
make the film adaptation with the help and financial backing of
Iranian
prroducer Bahman Farmanara.
Synopsis: Valerio Zurlini's melancholy final
film (1976) is a psychological drama about a pan-European
group of officers, stationed at an outpost along the eastern
edge of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, who cling to the rigid
military values of a crumbling order as they await an enemy
that may not even exist. Using an austere, almost abstract
mise-en-scene (distinguished by Luciano Tovoli's stark
cinematography), Zurlini parallels the labyrinth of the
soldiers' sandstone fortress with their interior state,
an unbearable "ennui" that ends only in self
destruction or death.
Set in a remote desert
fort, with an all male cast and no action, may seem a daunting
prospect. However The desert of the
Tartars is a strikingly memorable experience. Italian author Buzzati
famous tale had tempted many filmmakers such as Michelangelo Antonioni, David
Lean, Luchino Visconti, Pierre Schoendorffer, or Jean-Louis Bertucelli. Finally,
thanks to the perseverance of Jacques Perrin who held the rights of the novel
the film adaptation was made possible. The direction was thus offered to his
mentor Valerio Zurlini who had already directed him in the 1960's
.
The characters are full of suppressed emotion and inner turmoil,
the strange surrealistic fort a metaphor of their spiritual imprisonment,
and the huge expanse of surrounding desert a tangent reminder,
day by day, and year by year, of their fears and lost aspirations.
Time passes imperceptibly, and a dashing young lieutenant, played
by Jacques Perrin and surrounded by a stellar male cast, ages and
weakens as the desert and the constraints of life in the fort strips
away his physical strength and inner resolve.
He yearns to free himself of the debilitating fort's influence,
but finds himself transfixed by the mystical challenges of the
landscape, and the perceived danger from the unseen enemy beyond.
Those who hope to find a spectacular epic movie filled with action
will be disappointed, but it will be certainly more appreciated
by anyone interested in a psychological confrontation between actors
who at the time had reached the summit of their art. The fable's
plausible and "Kafkaesque" symbolism and situations are
strong and odd against the mute question of death framing the entire
film.
In the barren fort of the hypothetical empire, above a ruined
ancient city ravaged by marauders, the landscape of mind that Drogo
(Jaques Perrin ) finds in this society of men is the only comfort
and diversion to be had. Max von Sydow's Hortiz, who initially
seems slightly insane, carries the lengthy film through its more
pensive or absurd moments with a strange, convincing performance.
Philippe Noiret's august "General" is a quiet master of the powerful
forces at work through their travails, drills and inflammations.
Set against Drogo's gradual aging process are brief moments that
mark out new dimensions to his character, through a few well-turned
words or a quiet expression.
Notwithstanding a length that makes the end a long time in coming,
the large star cast gives unfailingly good performances and the
quality of the filmmaking is excellent using an exemplary color
widescreen photography and aided immeasurably by the haunting musical
themes written by Ennio Moriconne.
Also interestingly the movie used the contribution of Iranian
actors and technical crew. Cast in this film were Shaban Golchin
Honaz as "Soldier Lazar" and writer,
actor Kamran Nozad ("Malakout" 1976, "Ferestadeh", 1982) is cast as "Captain
Sern". However most importantly was certainly the technical and artistic
contribution of photographer Dariush Radpour who was to supervise the special
effects and
set constructions for some key scenes in this epic >>> See photos
The Film won the "David
Di Donatello Award" for "Best Film" and "Best Director" on the 22nd edition
(1976-1977) of the Italian Film Festival. This film was in fact made in 1976,
with an exceptional cast of actors including Jacques Perrin, in the leading
role, Vittorio Gassman, Giuliano Gemma, Philippe Noiret, Jean-Louis Trintignant,
Max von Sydow, Laurent Terzieff, Fernando Rey and Francisco Rabal.
It should be noted that it is the Italian Painting by
Giorgio de Chirico: "La
Torre Rossa" that convinced the Italian filmmaker and production to shoot the
film on location at the famous Fortress of Bam. Located in southeastern Iran,
200 kilometers south of Kerman, the ruined city of Arg-e-Bam is made entirely
of mud bricks, clay, straw and trunks of palm trees. The city was originally
founded during the Sassanian period (224-637 AD) and while some of the surviving
structures date from before the 12th century, most of what remains was built
during the Safavid period (1502-1722).
The citadel of Bam which looked like
a gigantic sand castle had become one of the major attractions In Iran
for film buffs and for tourists often surprised to find the original
settings of
the 1976 film on the touring agendas proposed by the Iranian tourist
industry.
The "Desert of the Tartars" is a strange movie, that takes full
advantage of the lunar scenery of the Bam Citadel and the Iranian
Desert. It is also reminiscent
of an era when International co-producers saw potential in filming
in Iran. The country offered many exotic landscapes for the Western
eye and a number
of films were to be filmed on location such as an Aghata Christie film "The
Ten Little Indians" shot at the Shah Abbas Hotel of Isphahan and in
Persepolis. Unfortunately the Revolution of 1979 put an abrupt end
to other major European
or American co-productions. >>> See photos
Author's note
When most people think about classic Italian cinema, it is directors like Federico
Fellini and Roberto Rossellini who come to mind. However Valerio Zurlini's
name can be added to that list. Critics often refer to Zurlini, who died in
1982, as the “overlooked” Italian director, and the Desert Epic can be rated
as a major part of his filmography. He was also noticed for his 1972 film "The
Professor" with Alain Delon in the title role. The English Title of the Novel
is also "The Tartar Steppe".
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