The Best of Enemies, Good Film From the Early 1960s

It is hard to write about war movies that are lighthearted, since in war, REAL people get killed and wounded, and all participants return with scars to their bodies or to their minds, or both. However, this somewhat rare war "dramedy," released in 1962, might bring a few smiles to your face, and the ending just might find you having to hold back a tear. This is a delightful Italian production, produced by Dino De Laurentiis, the grandfather of television cook Giada De Laurentiis, but the film was directed by English director Guy Hamilton. It is about a little known part of World War Two; the war in East Africa; more specifically in this case, the war in Abyssinia (also known as Ethiopia). The British and the Italians both had colonies in eastern Africa, and both countries used the local populations to help them retain control of their respective colonies; that is, both used colonial military units. This movie is not easy to find, but it has been on television, including, "if I'm not mistaken," on TCM (Turner Classic Movies). You can also check sources that show movies online. It is available more easily on DVD, but in (dubbed) Italian with English subtitles, although you might find a few DVD copies in the original English. It will be well worth your effort. 

The movie was filmed in Israel to simulate the very rough terrain of parts of Abyssinia in 1941. In that year, the British forces were on the advance against Italian forces in Abyssinia, and the movie depicts an Italian infantry company, "supported" by some Abyssinian warriors, including a few with only spears, that captures a British officer, Major Richardson, played by David Niven, along with his pilot, when their plane crash lands. The Italians want to get back to their main force, but their radio goes bad, so they are out of touch with their headquarters. The experienced and professional Italian commander is killed when a British reconnaissance vehicle comes into the Italian camp, so the writers make sure we still see the reality of war. This leaves Captain Vittorio Blasi in charge, played by Alberto Sordi. Blasi is not the most competent officer, to say the least, and when he is interrogating the captured British officers, he accidentally tells the British where he and his men are headed, which is more information than he can get from his prisoners, who give only name, rank and serial number. Still, the mistake seems harmless, since the information is of little use to the British prisoners at the moment. Major Richardson sort of bullies Captain Blasi at first by pulling rank on the Italian and frequently demanding a salute from him. He then brings up the Geneva Convention about treatment of prisoners, leaving the uninformed captain to wonder if he is violating a law of warfare. The two officers engage in some shouting matches at various times. Blasi may not be a professional officer, but he is a good man who is tired of the war. He only wants to get himself and his men to safety, but, in perhaps a mocking by the scriptwriters of Mussolini, he tries to portray himself as tough, but there is little substance to his posturing.* Blasi decides to make a deal with the condescending British major, who has a contemptuous opinion of the Italian captain. Blasi decides to let the two Brits escape, with the understanding that Richardson will then tell his superiors that the little Italian force is weak and not worth bothering with; thus allowing the Italians to get to safety unscathed.

All goes well, the British men escape (but they take the Italian mules, which wasn't part of the deal) and their commanding officer is pretty well sold that the Italian company is no threat to his own forces, but Richardson then casually mentions where the Italians are heading (Blasi's earlier mistake comes into play by Richardson now making the mistake of saying too much). Another British officer then informs the commander that the Italians are regrouping in the aforementioned place, so the commander decides to send a reluctant Richardson with some armor (British spelling: "armour") and motorized units to destroy the Italian company. Richardson and his men find the Italians in a fort already abandoned by the main Italian force. When the British pull up near the fort, Richardson puts up a white flag to signal he wants to talk. The inexperienced Captain Blasi thinks the British want to surrender and frets over how he will care for his prisoners. Another Italian soldier has to tell the captain it is only a signal the British want to talk and that Blasi must now also show a white flag to show agreement. When Blasi finds Richardson leading the British force against him, he sees Richardson as having broken their agreement and he is furious. Blasi is given one hour to surrender, but in that time, and unknown to the British, Blasi and his Italian men sneak away from the rear of the fort, as Major Richardson failed to order the fort to be surrounded, as he can't imagine Blasi being competent enough to pull a fast one. Who's incompetent now? When more than an hour passes, the other British officers want to open fire, but Richardson doesn't want to kill the Italians and suddenly out of the fort comes some men. Blasi had told some of his colonial soldiers to march out to surrender to the British in one hour, but he failed to give them a watch so they would know when the hour was up, that's why they are late! It's too funny!

The Italians are now on the run. Both the Italians and the British make their respective camps in something of an oasis, near a lake. When the spear-armed Abyssinian warriors kill the Italian mascot, an antelope, Blasi orders the warriors to leave, but this affront brings the warriors to start a fire in the brush. The dry grass and trees are quickly whipped into a major fire which destroys the British vehicles and sends both the Italians and the British men fleeing for their very lives to an island in the middle of the lake. So we now have two armed enemies together, but striving to just stay alive from a common enemy... FIRE! When the fire dies down, the Italians lay down their arms and surrender. With everyone now on foot, the column meets a group of native tribesmen who want the British to turn over the Italians and the Italian guns to them, ending with, "Death to the Italians." Richardson refuses the request and the British and their prisoners move on. The British enter an abandoned native village and make camp, as one of their men is very sick with pneumonia. The Italian doctor treats him, but the writers pull us back from lightheartedness to reality, as the soldier dies. The two sides get involved in a soccer match (football to most of the world), which then evolves into a fight. Damn! Just like a real soccer or hockey match. The situation changes dramatically when the earlier native tribesmen reappear in large numbers. The British withdraw a short distance to a better defensive position.

Captain Blasi asks Major Richardson to give the Italians their weapons, so they can help defend themselves, but Richardson won't do it. While the group waits for what they assume will be an attack by the tribesmen, Blasi and Richardson get into personal details about their lives, and we find out that Captain Blasi has a wife and two children, and he shows Richardson their photo. He tells the major, "My wife said, 'I don't care if you are a coward, come home to me.' " Richardson at first denies having a family picture, but Blasi catches him when he takes the photo from his wallet. The two discuss their dislike of the war, and the major tells him they still have a job to do, but that Blasi doesn't really make the effort. Blasi then tells Richardson that he would willingly fight for his home, but that serving so far from Italy in Africa, he doesn't feel that he is doing that. With this, Richardson decides to give the Italians their weapons, only to learn that his second in command left the Italian ammunition behind. We're back to another competency evaluation.

The group tries to escape under cover of darkness, only to be captured to the last man. The tribesmen not only take their weapons, but their boots too. So now we have a group of barefoot British and Italian soldiers with no weapons. The tribal chief tells them to get out of his country and go fight in their own countries. The men move out in the direction ordered by Richardson, and finally they reach a paved road, but they don't know where they are, although they assume they are behind British lines. Richardson orders the prisoners to the rear, but when Captain Blasi steps off the road to relieve himself, he sees the road marker indicating that they are only 10 Km (about 6 miles) from Addis Ababa, the capital of Abyssinia and thus the center of Italian military command. Blasi bursts out laughing, yelling out, "We are behind the Italian lines." Richardson is furious and frustrated, and he tells Blasi that he should have fired on the Italians when they were hiding in that fort. So now the tables have turned again, or have they? Blasi now also turns serious in response to Richardson. He tells the major, "It's not the best and bravest who win the wars, but the ones who make the least mistakes." The Italians march off toward Addis Ababa and the British march off in the opposite direction. When trucks approach, the British hide off of the road until the column has passed. When they get back on the road, another truck column approaches, but this time with soldiers singing ..... in ENGLISH! Richardson and his men find out that Addis Ababa has fallen to the British and these men are on their way to the victory celebration. Meanwhile, the first truck column approaches the Italians, who are singing in happiness, only to have to raise their hands in surrender... AGAIN!

Later, the Italian prisoners are lined up to board a train to carry them to a prisoner of war camp. Major Richardson and his men are there too, as they have just been issued new vehicles to replace those destroyed earlier. The two groups can't help but notice one another and to think of all they've been through together. The difference is striking, as the British are decked out in new uniforms, while the Italians are in their dirty, torn and ragged uniforms. Major Richardson and Captain Blasi look at each other. The British troops look back at Richardson, seemingly hoping he will say or do something, but Richardson gives the order for his men to march off. Then suddenly he has his men do an about face and he orders them to present arms in a salute of respect for the Italians. Richardson salutes as the train begins to pull out, as a smiling Captain Blasi shouts "Ciao!" The Italians look on as the British men flash big smiles and even a "thumbs up" to them. Captain Blasi and the Italians finally get some respect, and the two groups are really "the best of enemies." 

* Mussolini was known for his strutting and serious poses in newsreels and while giving speeches, but his military forces were ill prepared, ill led, ill trained, ill equipped and ill supplied during World War Two (that's a lot of 'ills'), leaving 'ill' ... I mean... Il Duce's boasting to ring more than a little hollow.

WORD HISTORY:
Enemy-The ultimate origin of "enemy" is uncertain. It goes back to Latin "amare," which meant, "to love, to be fond of, to like." This produced Latin "amicus," meaning "friend." When coupled with the negative Latin prefix "in," tracing back to Indo European "n/ne," this gave Latin "inimicus;" literally, "not a friend" or, "an unfriend;" thus, "enemy," but also with the extended religious meaning, "someone possessed of evil, someone wishing to bring harm to others." This passed to Latin-based Old French in various spellings: "inimi, anemi, animi, enemi" (remember, there were not standards in those tymes... ah, I mean, times), and with the same meanings. English borrowed the word from French circa 1200 as, "enemi/enemy," before settling on the latter as the spelling. It replaced, in specific meaning only, "feond," which had meant "enemy," but "feond" has remained in English right up to the present, but with the updated form "fiend," although its close German cousin, "Feind," still is the primary German word for "enemy."