The Great War (Büyük Savaş (film, 1959))

The Great War (La grande guerra) is a 1959 Italian-French co-production directed by Mario Monicelli, blending comedy and drama within a war film. Produced by Dino De Laurentiis, it stars Alberto Sordi, Vittorio Gassman and Silvana Mangano, with music by Nino Rota.

The film follows two mismatched army buddies thrown onto the Italian front of World War I. Although played on a comedic register, it never hides the brutality of trench warfare, the hardships of life near the front or the incompetence of the command, and it is regarded as one of the works that launched the commedia all'italiana genre.

The film won the Golden Lion at the 20th Venice International Film Festival and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1960. In 2008 it was included in the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage's list of 100 films that changed the country's collective memory.