The Last Victory

Aug 26 2004 N/A 1h 28m
Documentary

Documentary - The annual Palio bareback horse race, set in the central plaza of Siena, Italy, dates back to the Middle Ages and lasts a scant 80 seconds, conferring glory on the winner and ignominy on the losers. Documentarian John Appel captures all the drama, action and anguish that accompany this fiercely upheld tradition, focusing specifically on the district of Civetta, which, embarrassingly, hasn't won the race in 23 years. - Egidio Mecacci, Paolo Rossi, Alma Savini

Plot

Documents the summer days in 2003 leading up to the running of Siena's Palio, a horse race around the city center, that dates back hundreds of years. Seventeen neighborhoods compete. This film follows the contrada of Civetta (owl), which hasn't won since 1979. We see that glorious victory, we meet people young and old for whom each year's Palio is life's most important event, we see the drawing that assigns a horse to each contrada, and we observe the feasting and pageantry beforehand. Then, the running of the race: will Civetta experience the elation of victory or the bitterness of loss?

Written by

John Appel

Directed by

John Appel

Cast

Egidio Mecacci, Paolo Rossi, Alma Savini

Crew

View crew

Production Countries

Netherlands

Awards

2 wins & 2 nominations

Trailers
The Last Victory - trailer
Scores
# of Votes
169
Average Rating
7.7 out of 10
Metascore
NA
Popularity
NA