Directed by Valerio Zurlini – (Italia, Francia, Germania, 1976 – colore, 150′ min. Dramatic. In Italian with English subtitles)
With Vittorio Gassman, Helmut Griem, Francisco Rabal, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Giuliano Gemma.
As his first assignment, lieutenant Drogo is sent to an isolated fortress on the borders of a desert and of a range of high mountains. The mission of the garrison is to prevent a possible incursion by the fearsome Tartars, coming from beyond the desert. Some fellow officers are eagerly awaiting an attack; some no longer want to believe in it; others take advantage of the vague threat to further their career. All of them are sacrificing everything — health, youth, friends, family — for a distant military ideal: leading the defence against the onslaught of the enemy. But in the vast emptiness surrounding the fortress, nobody has ever sighted the Tartars…