‘Battleground’ Review: A WWI Medical Drama with Solutions that Complicate More Than Cure

In Gianni Amelio’s “Battleground,” set against the backdrop of post-World War I Italy, the promised victory of 1918 starkly contrasts with the film’s grim opening scenes: bloodied soldiers under the moonlight, a scavenger looting corpses, and a traumatized survivor hidden beneath a blanket.

The film’s somber tone mirrors the heavy skies and the weighty atmosphere, captured by Luan Amelio Ujkaj’s methodical yet stilted camera work. Despite the official end of the war, Italian soldiers and civilians grapple with pervasive despair, a sentiment that “Battleground” conveys through its sluggish pacing and fragmented narrative.

The film centers on Stefano (Gabriele Montesi) and Giulio (Alessandro Borghi), two doctors in a crowded military clinic in Northern Italy. Their differing interpretations of their medical oaths highlight their complex bond. Stefano, rigid and patriotic, is quick to send injured soldiers back to the front, even if it means hastening their recovery or declaring them fit prematurely.

Giulio, though similarly stern, is morally troubled by the notion of condemning young men to probable death. He secretly operates an attic surgery, performing questionable procedures like administering venereal diseases to induce deafness or unnecessary amputations, all under the guise of medical research.

The film’s potential is undermined by its foray into a tepid romantic subplot involving Anna (Federica Rosellini), a nurse whose career was curtailed by sexism. The love triangle that emerges is lackluster and uninspired, lacking the chemistry needed to drive the narrative.

While “Battleground” excels in period detail and captures the sterile, sickly atmosphere of a wartime clinic, it suffers from structural weaknesses and shallow characterization. The film’s tendency to drift from one anticlimactic scene to another, despite the chaos of war and pandemic, diminishes its emotional impact, leaving viewers disconnected from the profound suffering it seeks to portray.