Marching in Darkness
Marching in Darkness () is a 1996 drama film directed by Massimo Spano. Plot The recruit Saro Franzese befriends the sergeant of his squad, Gianni Tricarico, who immediately becomes infatuated with him. The soldier does not welcome or understand his advances, and, after a lively evening at a disco, criticizes the ambiguous and aggressive behavior of his friend. They leave together in Gianni's car, apparently intending to go back to their barracks, but Gianni drives to a road frequented by transsexuals, many of whom he seems to know well. Saro is not interested in the scene and leaves the car, whereupon he accepts a ride in another car with apparently only the driver on board. But Saro comes back soon after being beaten for trying to defend himself and after being raped by the driver. Saro, wounded and distraught, roams around until he is picked up by Gianni, who, after learning that Captain Silvio Roatta, the commander of their battalion, was one of Saro's attackers, brings him to the hospital of their barracks with the intention to hide what happened; but a day later, a doctor tells him that the soldier cannot stay without official permission and therefore is forced to leave. Gianni then takes Saro to the house of his sister, Paola, where she lives with her husband Mario and their two children. The couple want to know why Saro is in such condition, but Saro refuses to explain and only after a violent outburst does he burst into tears and tell the truth. Gianni reveals that he has jotted down the licence number of the car that Saro got into on the night of the rape and Saro finds that the licence number is correct. Saro and his sister go to a car showroom, where Saro recognizes the driver: it was Vittorio Scarpa, a sex maniac who is heavily in debt and who because of the aforementioned reasons has a difficult and painful relationship with his wife Gabriella and his son Fabrizio. Once recognized, Scarpa is reported to the police and Gianni's captain subpoenas him to appear as a witness. Scarpa tells Roatta about the trial, but the captain, who is engaged to Laura, the mayor's daughter, not only already knew about the trial, but also knows the identity of the witness. He reassures Scarpa that the sergeant depends on him; in fact, ever since the moment Gianni arrives, he has been exerting pressure on him and blackmailing him into letting Scarpa continue his life, which means bringing transsexuals into a secret room inside the car showroom where he enjoys his secret pleasures, and also into reporting Saro for slander. After the beginning of the trial process, Paola invites Gianni to dinner to ask for an explanation, but Gianni replies that he is not going to testify against his captain and, when he is left alone with Saro after a heated fight, confesses to being raped when he was thirteen years old and asserts that he will not