Toth Database - Cinema

Tragic Hunt

Plot

In the immediate post-war period, a truck on which the newlyweds Michele and Giovanna travel and the accountant of an agricultural cooperative, charged with bringing four million lire to the premises, is attacked by a handful of bandits. The thugs block the road with a fake ambulance, kill the driver and accountant, seize the money and take the girl hostage. Alberto, the ringleader, is an unemployed war veteran; Daniela is his mistress, a former collaborator nicknamed Lili Marlene. The cooperative's farmers join the carabinieri to help them catch the criminals. After a long chase Daniela and Alberto, dragging Giovanna with them, barricade themselves in a building, already home to a German command, where they are surrounded.The land around has been mined by the Germans and Daniela would like to blow up the mines to slaughter the besiegers. Alberto wants to stop him and, after a struggle, kills her. Giovanna is finally free and Alberto, captured by the members of the cooperative, must undergo their trial.Michael finally persuades his comrades of the need to forgive the man, a desperate victim of the war and the exploitative masters. A throwing of sods of earth on the back of Alberto "redime" morally man, who is heading towards his own future [synopsis taken from: Marco Grossi (edited by), Giuseppe De Santis. The Transfiguration of Reality / The Transfiguration of Reality, Rome, Experimental Center of Cinematography – Giuseppe De Santis Association, 2007.