Watching Vecchia guardia: History is a messy business

Is this thing worth a watch?

Honestly, you probably only want to sit through Vecchia guardia if you’re deep into the history of early Italian cinema or you have a weird curiosity about how filmmakers handle propaganda. If you’re looking for a breezy Saturday night flick, stay away. It’s heavy, it’s loud, and it carries the weight of a very specific, ugly moment in history.

It’s not exactly a barrel of laughs, and it certainly doesn't try to be. If you get annoyed by characters who exist solely to represent a political talking point, you’re going to hate this.

The vibe is… intense

The film starts with these hospital strikes and just never really lets up on the tension. There’s a scene where the blackshirts are storming around, and the pacing is so frantic it feels like the camera operator was running for their life. It’s not graceful, but it’s certainly unsettling.

Then there is Mario. Watching his story unfold is pretty rough. The movie treats his death like a rallying cry, which is exactly what the director intended, but it lands with a thud rather than a poignant moment. It feels like the movie is grabbing you by the collar, demanding you feel sad.

Odd notes from the notebook

• The hospital sets look weirdly pristine one minute and then completely trashed the next. It’s like they reset the room but forgot to wipe the dust off the tables.
• There’s a moment with the Doctor where he just stares out a window for way too long. I actually checked my watch during that bit.
• The shouting. So much shouting. You’d think by 1922 they would have figured out how to have a quiet conversation, but nope.

It brings to mind the frantic energy of Court-Martial, though they are obviously doing completely different things with their time. Where other films from that era, like Vienna, City of My Dreams, manage to capture a sense of place, this just feels like a closed, suffocating box.

I caught myself wondering why they spent so much time on the minor characters’ side-eyes. Every time someone speaks, the background actors look like they are trying to hide a laugh or they are genuinely bored. It’s distracting once you notice it. Maybe they were just tired of the set catering?

It’s not a movie I’ll be rushing to watch again. It’s a relic. It’s loud, it’s biased, and it’s a bit of a slog, but it’s definitely a slice of something real. Even if that something is just a historical headache. 🎥