To the untrained eye it's just a horse race. But to the 17 'contrade' of Siena, Il Palio is the defining moment of the year: a centuries-old ritual that brings glory to the winner and abject misery to the defeated. John Appel's slow-burning documentary The Last Victory charts the build-up to the 2003 event from the viewpoint of the city's smallest district, 'Civetta' (Owl), whose "last victory" was back in 1979. The odds may be stacked against them, but 24 years of hurt never stopped them dreaming.
To stress the Palio's significance to both young and old, Appel shows a cross-section of Civetta residents steeling themselves for the biannual dash around Siena's Piazza del Campo. At one end of the spectrum there's 92-year-old Egidio, who sees winning the event as a matter of personal pride. At the other sits 21-year-old Paolo, pleased as punch to be grooming the district's competing nag.
The race itself lasts a mere 80 seconds, so the majority of the film centres on the near-endless round of parades, dinners and flag-waving ceremonies that precede it. Appel makes the most of his unprecedented access, from the sycophantic feting of the hired jockey to the riders' sneaky horse-trading at the starting point. He also shows the vast range of emotion that the locals go through, from fist-punching elation to hair-tearing anguish.
"A FASCINATING INSIGHT"
You can't help thinking the decision to focus on just one of the town's fiercely tribal communities limits Appel's options, while his film never addresses the crucial issue of animal cruelty. (Horses routinely die during the Palio, despite the mattresses used to cordon the track.) Still, The Last Victory remains a fascinating insight into one of Italy's oldest customs, even if the violent scuffles that break out at the end of the race do rather detract from its picturesque charm.
In Italian with English subtitles.
The Last Victory (2004)
