La Grande Guerra was comedy at its most sophisticated: comedy as tragedy. Its anti-heroic stance toward Italy's World War I exploits-which the establishment wished either to glorify or, better yet, not discuss at all-inspired a widespread campaign to suppress the film. But instead it became quite popular and was extremely influential, sharing the Venice Film Festival's Golden Lion award with Rossellini's Generale Della Rovere. Vittorio Gassman and Alberto Sordi are at their subtle best as two reluctant soldiers whose goal (like the would-be thieves of Monicelli's Big Deal on Madonna Street) is simply to survive. Their efforts to escape a dread fate are surprisingly funny, under the circumstances-for Monicelli and scriptwriters Age and Scarpelli succeed in creating an atmosphere in which the debacle of war is vividly evoked-but the final irony of their situation is almost unbearable.