"One day, all of this will be forgotten."
— Guima
Road 47 (also known as The Mountain and The Lost Patrol) is a 2015 Brazilian WWII Drama, remarkable for being the first of its kind to tell the tale of Brazilian participation in WWII, a little-known affair.
The movie centers on a small Brazilian squadron that, during the Battle of Monte Castello
, ends up panicking and abandoning its post. After regrouping, the squadron realizes that if they come back, they will face trial for desertion and be expelled from the army or executed. Their salvation lies in the titular Road 47, a road crucial to Allied transport that is completely covered by mines. And thus, in an attempt to save themselves from a desertion charge, the group decides to undertake the Suicide Mission of going behind enemy lines in the unforgiving Italian winter to clear the road and allow the Allied forces clear passage and use the action as an excuse to justify them leaving their posts. On the way, they meet an Italian who recently deserted from a Nazi auxilliary unit (portrayed by Sergio Rubini) and a war weary German commander (portrayed by Richard Sammel).
The movie centers on character drama and exploration rather than action, and it's quite a downbeat war film about the cost of war, violence and the loss of lives.
Tropes:
- Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene: Inverted. The movie is a quiet drama for the most part, but there's one action scene near the middle showing a German group fighting the squadron.
- All Germans Are Nazis: Averted. Colonel Jurgen Mayer (A Wehrmacht officer) is a highly sympathetic character, and never displays any Nazi beliefs.
- Black Dude Dies First: Averted. Laurindo makes it out alive.
- Bittersweet Ending: The movie ends with the Road successfully cleared and the Brazilians survive, but Colonel Jurgen is dead, the Brazilians don't get any recognition for their heroism, Rui loses his camera and the war is far from over.
- Bomb Disposal: The function of the Brazilian squadron.
- Butt-Monkey: Piauí is always on the receiving end of the suffering.
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Piauí is clearly a bit batty. He sings loudly, goes off in strange tangents, and often wanders aimlessly for no reason. It's highly implied he's suffering from PTSD.
- Communications Officer: Laurindo, the group communications specialist.
- Dangerous Deserter: The protagonists undertake their mission to avoid being seen as this. Giovanni and Jurgen could also qualify.
- Defector from Decadence: Jurgen (a German defector) and Giovanni (an Italian defector) both defect from their Fascist armies.
- Demolitions Expert: The squad's job is defusing mines, so they all count, but specifically Guima is their explosives expert.
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: Lt. Penha has to remind everyone he's their superior officer and they should call him "Lieuteanant" instead of "Penha".
- During the War: Italian winter, late 1944.
- Eagleland: American forces are secondary players in the film and while they're not malicious at all, they end up inadvertently stealing all the glory from the Brazilian squadron for themselves and crushing Rui's camera, leaving them looking pretty bad in the grand scheme of things.
- Ear Ache: One of Guima's ear drums is busted early in the film and he spends a while with his ear bleeding.
- Fatal Family Photo: Played with. Both Jurgen and Laurindo show their family pictures, but only Jurgen dies. Laurindo survives without a scratch.
- Fire-Forged Friends: Jurgen (A German officer) and Piauí (a Brazilian Shell-Shocked Veteran) end up becoming friends. which is all the more tragic when Jurgen dies.
- Heroic Blue Screen of Death: The squadron suffers one when winter nearly kills them late in the movie.
- Hero of Another Story: Meta-wise. This is the first movie to show the always overlooked Brazilian perspective of WWII.
- Intrepid Reporter: Rui, a reporter who decides to accompany the mission and record the entire thing.
- Land Mine Goes "Click!": It is a movie about clearing bombs after all. Though curiously, they do not go click, and they seem to go off with no noise whatsoever.
- La Résistance: The Italian Partisan movement heavily features in the film. While they're heroic characters, the movie also displays their less-than-charitable sides, like the summary execution of German prisoners.
- No Antagonist: For the most part. Jurgen is an antagonist early on, but for the most part, the film's antagonists are minefields, unforgiving winter and the character's own demons.
- Plucky Comic Relief: Piauí is the source of jokes and amusing moments.
- Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: The Squadron is composed of several figures from varied backgrounds who evidently don't get along well, plus an Italian deserter, a German deserter and a Brazilian reporter.
- Redemption Quest: A more pragmatic one. To avoid facing charges of desertion after a panicked retreat from their post, the squadron decides to clear the Road 47 as to justify their retreat and avoid being summarily expelled. Along the way several characters end up going on an actual redemption quest.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Giovanni the partisan abandons the group when they refuse to execute Col. Jurgen.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: Rui spends the entire film accompanying the squadron to take pictures and register their tale. Near the end his camera is destroyed, thus rendering his efforts null and void.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: Everyone. With the exception of Rui, the film's Intrepid Reporter, all the characters show clear signs of PTSD. Most evident with Piauí, who has a panic attack in the beginning of the film, and Guima, who spends the entire movie about to lose his mind.
- Shell-Shock Silence: When Guima's ear drum bursts. Occasionally the movie will display shades of it when it wants to clarify Guima's ear is still busted.
- Snow Means Death: The Italian winter is their toughest opponent, and what nearly kills the entire squad.
- Steel Ear Drums: Averted. An explosion early in the movie clearly completely bursts one of Guima's ear drums, leaving him half-deaf for the entire movie (and likely the rest of his life).
- Suicide Mission: The engineer squadron has to go inside enemy territory in the dead of winter and deactivate a minefield, with no reinforcements whatsoever. They pull it off.
- Surprisingly Elite Cannon Fodder: The squadron are bottom-of-the-barrel soldiers, ill-trained and ill-prepared for this, but where an American regiment failed, they must succeed. And they do succeed, clearing Road 47.
- Thousand-Yard Stare: Guima has one, but Colonel Jurgen the Wehrmacht officer stands unmatched in this regard.
- Token Enemy Minority: Col. Jurgen, the German deserter.
- Trapped Behind Enemy Lines: Deliberately. Early in the film they realize they have two options: A) Go back to their superiors and face charges of desertion B) Clear Road 47 (behind enemy lines) or die in the process. They choose B and for the remainder of the movie are pretty much in a life-or-death scenario (either clear the road or be killed by Germans).
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Laurindo and Piauí are always at each other's throats, but it's quite clear they still care about one another.
- War Is Hell: The prime message of the movie. All the characters are damaged and worn out by the war.
- Was It Really Worth It?: Guima wonders this in the end. He comes to the conclusion that yes, it was, for saving the Italians from the clutches of the Nazi Army.
- Winter Warfare: The Italian winter is quite unforgiving.
