The Damned

Roberto Minervini · 2024 · 89 minutes
November 16 · Regal Riviera · 3:15 p.m.

In the winter of 1862, during the Civil War, the U.S. Army sends a volunteer company to patrol the uncharted Western territories.

Programmer’s Note

“Maybe this is the reason I am now disenchanted with documentary — in the end, documentary is never delivering truth, it’s delivering believability. It is a politically catastrophic tool.” — Roberto Minervini, on The Damned

Italian filmmaker Roberto Minervini moved to the United States more than two decades ago and soon after began making films about his adopted country — first shorts and then in 2011 his debut feature, The Passage, a roadtrip movie shot in West Texas. Since then he’s released five more features, all of which engage the current political moment and blur the lines between documentary and fiction. In the process, Minervini has quietly become one of America’s finest regional filmmakers, although one perhaps better known in the international film world than here at home: his films are often invited to major festivals (The Damned premiered at Cannes and screened in Toronto and New York) and he is the subject of a new book-length study published by the Viennale.

The Damned was shot in Montana, where in 1862 the discovery of gold prompted a rush of prospecting and looting. The governor of what was then the Dakota Territory negotiated for support from the federal government back east, who sent troops to the region. That history isn’t the subject of The Damned, exactly, but it’s useful context for engaging with a film that rejects our expectations for what a Civil War film should be. As in so much of his work, Minervini is less interested in “believability” here than in the foundational mythologies of America — the shifting meaning of honor, sacrifice, faith, and freedom.

The soldiers in The Damned are all played by non-professional actors who work within a tightly plotted structure designed by Minervini. Their performances, and the lines they speak, however, have a natural, improvised quality that create a distancing effect. It’s a strange thing to see young Civil War soldiers trying to process their understanding of war in real time, especially when their thoughts come loaded with 21st-century psychology. Wrestling with notions of honor, sacrifice, faith, and freedom will always resonate.

Tim, Noah, and Judah Carlson, who play three soldiers in The Damned, will introduce the screening and participate in a Q&A.