Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: THE LEGIONNAIRE [Locarno Film Festival 2021 - Virtual]

The idea of conscience sometimes is based between loyalty and family especially if one side or another don't make sense. "The Legionnaire" also keys in an essence of racism but in a different perspective by setting it in the Italian capital of Rome which, in many way, is a microcosm of perhaps different microaggressions all over Europe. As Americans, it is interesting to see these tales especially since they work from a slightly different social structure than our own. It is indeed fueled by ambition, worth, goals and emotions as all life experiences do. The crux of this story has Patrick (played by Maurizio Bousso) working on a riot police team. These men are his family. He is good at his job. But when it conflicts with the eviction of people from a building (including his mother and brother) and the social services aren't adding up to help them, it becomes a push and pull of loyalty.

The character is in an untenable situation but also it becomes the question of no action being the right or wrong action. Bousso plays the character with a slowly brimming frustration. A time when he should be joyful with his girlfriend/wife about to give birth to their baby seems overshadowed. He plays violent video games when she is trying to tell him what is right in front of him. The movie speaks to rights, the importance of protest but also the unyielding wield sometimes of the state. Ultimately it is more about those things that can't controlled. Patrick's mother seems to have the clearest view, understanding that the die has been cast without resorting to impulsive reaction which Patrick (even though he is a riot cop) sometimes cannot control. "The Legionnaire" is about divided loyalties but also questions asked internally, whether someone admits to them or not. B-

Tim Wassberg