Synopsis

The soldiers of a desert fortress prepare themselves for an enemy attack upon the isolated village they are protecting.

The first posting of the young lieutenant Drogo is to a remote medieval castle on the frontier of the empire, facing the empty desert of the ferocious Tartars.

In this lonely outpost, though no enemy appears, the garrison solemnly goes through all the rituals of military life. Isolation and stress erode them mentally and physically, leading to erratic behaviour and illness.



The officers bicker continually and a platoon of soldiers mutinies when one of them is shot for alleged desertion.

The commanding officer rides into the desert alone and shoots himself. In the end Drogo too falls ill and, put into a carriage to take him back to civilization, collapses dead.

Cast: Vittorio Gassman, Jacques Perrin, Helmut Griem, Giuliano Gemma, Philippe Noiret, Fernando Rey, Laurent Terzieff, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Max von Sydow, Giuseppe Pambieri, Francisco Rabal, Lilla Brignone, Kamran Nozad, Shaban Golchin Honaz