I cavalieri che fecero l'impresa (2001)

Director:

Pupi Avati

Writers:

Pupi Avati (novel)
Pupi Avati (screenplay)

Release Date:

6 April 2001 (Italy)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | Fantasy | War

Plot:

In 1271, five young knights journey to Thebes in Greece to recover the Sacred Shroud and deliver it back to France and into the hands of the royal family. |

Plot Keywords:

Knight | Religion | Violence | Medieval | Battle

Awards:

4 nominations

Cast

Raoul Bova	...	Giacomo di Altogiovanni
Edward Furlong	...	Simon di Clarendon
Marco Leonardi	...	Ranieri di Panico
Stanislas Merhar	...	Jean de Cent Acres
Thomas Kretschmann	...	Vanni delle Rondini
F. Murray Abraham	...	Delfinello da Coverzano
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Enzo Andronico
Franco Bagnasco	...	A border monk
Lorenzo Balducci	...	figlio di Luigi IX
Marco Bocci	...	Ruolo Secondario
Giovanni Capalbo	...	Benoit
Dino Cassio
Gigliola Cinquetti	...	Madre superiora
Marcus J. Cotterell
Cesare Cremonini	...	Doorkeeper Monk
Leslie Csuth	...	Shepherd
Carlo Delle Piane	...	Giovanni da Cantalupo
Luca Forcina	...	Il monaco magro
Giacomo Gonnella	...	Capo Armigeri
Romuald Andrzej Klos	...	Blind Abbot
Loris Loddi	...	Jannot de Plume
Sarah Maestri	...	Odilia
Romano Malaspina	...	Amaury de la Roche
Edmund Purdom	...	Ugo di Clarendon
Renzo Rinaldi	...	Old man with a brown dog
Stefania Rivi	...	Girl of 'Paradise'
Elisabetta Rocchetti	...	Nun
Orazio Stracuzzi	...	Surgeon of Louis IX
Franco Trevisi	...	Rolando da Gesso
Yorgo Voyagis	...	Isacco Sathas

Also Known As:

The Knights Who Made the Enterprise (USA) (literal English title)
The Knights of the Quest

Runtime:

147 min | Japan:120 min

Country:

Italy | France

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Certification:

Germany:16

Filming Locations:

Barletta, Bari, Apulia, Italy

Company:

Duea Film

Interesting take on an old legend

This almost monumental film by Pupi Avati boosts beautiful locations, convincing protagonists (especially Thomas Kretschmann and Raoul Bova) and a very interesting take on the age-old legend of Jesus Christ's shroud (it's a catholic movie in a way, but it wasn't bothersome for me at all although I'm not a religious person). Even though the film has its fantasy elements, it's rather a pseudo-historical movie about the medieval age, convincingly depicting the possible conditions of living at that time. The few battle scenes are quite graphic (which could irritate average fantasy and historical drama fans), but only depict how atrocious violence is and what effects it has on victims (which should be shown in every film where violence happens!).

Although the movie runs over 140 minutes, it never becomes boring and constantly keeps the viewer interested. Riz Ortolani's score is wonderfully pompous and matches the heroic quest of the title's knights. The only flaw probably is that in the English language version, there are some small characters that talk so muddled one can hardly understand them.

All in all a pleasing experience (the climax is quite dark, though), and it's cool that the movie distinguishes itself from the usual pseudo-historical fodder that is just pompous and delivers no surprises.