"El Alamein: Bond Of Honour 2013" Topic

This film warranagts a goodish

I like that it if from the Italian perspective and the uniforms and softskins feel very authentic. The tanks and battle scenes are the ish bit, but worth the time

free if you have prime

amzn.to/3hQDw1I

Thanks!

VIVA IL DUCE!!

I have started watching this movie, based on the mention here.

I am quite impressed so far. Have watched about half of it, and the kit is very accurate -- rifles, LMGs, uniforms, softskin vehicles all appear to be spot-on. I mean, where do they GET those actual WW2 Italian trucks!

Haven't gotten to the tanks … yet.

The movie focuses on the daily lives of a small group of infantrymen. It is not sappy at all (compared with Hollywood movies). It IS sentimental on many fronts. You get to see the soldier's talking and reminiscing about home, and cursing the REMFs, etc. But it is all pretty believable. (Except when the one guy gets blown up by an arty shell, and all they find is his ear. That's a bit … IDK … not quite right.)

I will say this. If you watch it, you will have a VERY strong urge to work on your Italian infantry after. And your trucks (I have not done have NEARLY enough weathering on my trucks!). And you will want more trenchworks and wire. Good thing I've already got my combat engineers.

All in all I recommend it quite highly for anyone who fields, or is considering fielding, an Italian WW2 force.

BTW on Amazon Prime in the U.S. it appears as "El Alamein: Line of Fire". Looks like that is the direct translation of the Italian title. Nothing about "Bond of Honour" that I saw.

-Mark
(aka: Mk 1)

Sounds pretty good !

I've now watched it through to the end. Sir Able is right, the tanks don't live up to the standards of the rest of the film. I will give them credit, though, for covering up the tanks with lots of camo netting etc. to hide what types they are, so that they don't just jump out at you like in Battle of the Bulge or Patton.

The bit about British APCs seemed a bit off too. My guess is that they were trying to suggest British Bren/Universal carriers. But choosing a modern APC, even if you do put some guys riding on the roof, doesn't quite cut it in my book.

And the end does wander into Hollywood-esque sappiness. Oh well. I'd say the first 75% was very good, the next 20% alternated between very good and OK, and the last 5% was maybe OK but only marginally so.

Overall I enjoyed it, and felt my time watching it had been well used.

Your tankage may vary.

-Mark
(aka: Mk 1)

I wouldnt have given this a second look. But based on Mark's comments, and the fact we have prime so nothing to lose except perhaps some time, gave it a go. Glad I did! HIGHLY recommended.

I am glad they went with captions in this case instead of dubbing. You may not speak Italian but voice inflection very important. I also found the captions well translated unlike some attempts. It was very interesting to see the war in North Africa from the perspective of the average Italian soldiers.