An acute observer and critic of contemporary Italian society, director Mario Monicelli, in 1966, decided to aim his gaze and efforts towards something completely different –the Middle Ages. With his screenwriters Furio Scarpelli and Agenore Incrocci, he made L’armata Brancaleone. Vittorio Gassmann, in one of his most admirable performances, plays Brancaleone da Norcia, a vainglorious knight reduced to poverty, who is dragged into a journey across the Italian Peninsula by a group of poor devils in possession of a parchment that promises treasures and riches. Along the way, they face some tragicomic adventures and are joined by new companions, among them a degenerate Byzantine prince, played by Gian Maria Volonté, and a young lady whose virtue must be protected, played by Catherine Spaak.
"L’Armata Brancaleone is certainly a comic and picaresque road movie, but at the same time, Monicelli depicts the Middle Ages quite realistically."
Since the opening titles, a lively animation sequence set to a catchy but only apparently joyful march, viewers immediately understand what they are about to watch. L’Armata Brancaleone is certainly a comic and picaresque road movie, but at the same time, Monicelli depicts the Middle Ages quite realistically. So, the film is far from being an idealistic representation of those times, especially in its depiction of violence. Furthermore, the movie would not have left such a deep mark on Italian culture had it not been for the decision, made by the filmmakers, to have the protagonists speak in a completely invented language: a mixture of dialects including broken Latin, and the Italian spoken in those days.
The result is absolutely irresistible: “ Groppone da Ficulle fue lo più grande capitan di Tuscia. E io son colui che con un sol colpo d'ascia lo tagliò in due. Lo mio nome – stare attenti! – lo mio nome est Brancaleone da Norcia !” (Groppone from Ficulle was the greatest captain in Tuscia. And I am the one who cut him in two with just one strike of the axe. My name, - mind it! – my name is Brancaleone from Norcia!). In fact, several expressions used in the movie have become so popular that they were adopted by Italians and have entered the common parlance. For instance, the very title of the film, “ L’armata Brancaleone ,” is still used in all contexts to refer to “a motley crew.” Expressions like “ Che te ne cale ?” (What do you care?), “ e come no ?” (“of course,” but literally “and how not?”), and “ mai coperto ” (“never known,” but literally something like “never had any sexual relationship with him”) are still widely used more than 40 years later. Much linguistic richness is also reserved to the Longobards, mercenaries ravaging the Peninsula and fighting against Brancaleone. They speak a rather incomprehensible language, apparently tinted with some dialect from Lombardy. However, Ottone, a former mercenary and now member of Brancaleone’s army, speaks with a German accent.
Even though it was set in a distant and forgotten time, L’armata Brancaleone effectively gave Monicelli another opportunity to describe the bad habits and virtues of contemporary Italians. In fact, Brancaleone and his companions are not too different from the characters in Monicelli’s previous movies, like I soliti ignoti. Only the costumes have changed.
