Circa 2002, several French and Italian production companies and TV channels joined forces to create an animated series of shorts and features based on the adventures of popular Italian comic book character Corto Maltese, a laconic adventurer and former sea captain who travels all across Europe and its colonies as well as Asia, South America and other places during the 1910s and the 1920s and witnesses first hand the many horrors and atrocities that the brutal bloody history of the early 20th century had to offer, from World War I to various civil wars and communist and other revolutions. This is why the comic book was (and still is) very popular in Europe, but is virtually unknown in the US.
Every story has a basic formula - Corto is hired, convinced or has reasons of his own to go to a certain exotic location where treasure, people or mystery await, but gets caught up in local infighting on the way there and becomes a witness to history. With the help from the people he meets along the way, he eventually reaches his goal, only to discover that the trip was more interesting than the destination. Here however, Corto's is working on a smaller scale. His three adventures don't really have an epic arc or specific historical background, nor do consequences of his actions impact anyone other than the people involved in these three specific stories. In other words - this is the most episodic out of all seven of his animated feature adventures.
Corto himself is a trustworthy tall, thin, slick, charming man with very sentimental and laconic view of life, who easily makes friends and can handle himself in most fights, although on occasion he does act brash and bites off more than he can chew. Corto has no problems with violence or killing when deemed necessary, but he is disturbed by death and pain of the innocents. He often tries to help those oppressed or in need he meets on his journeys, which often gets him into serious trouble. However, he never fights lost battles and has a distinctive sense of self-preservation, as well as lots of acquaintances and luck. The ladies are often attracted to his charm, attitude and willingness to take action, but also to his slight naiveté that sometimes they and even some of his temporary allies try to take advantage of. However, Corto is no James Bond and while he often cares about his female companions in a platonic way, he rarely beds the girl, unless he's actually interested in her.
One could call him the European Indiana Jones, although Corto, as a fan of poetry and art, has only superficial knowledge of archeology, kills somewhat more indiscriminatingly, often waxes poetic and his world is much more adult, dramatic and darker than Indy's with little to no magical, fantastical or sci-fi elements. These mystical elements do run through this specific compilation, but don't really influence the story in any significant manner.
The tree stories presented here all come from Corto's comic book issue eponymously titled The Ethiopian. The first two stories focus on a specific Enthiopian - the coldblooded amoral tribal warrior from Ethiopia called Cush. He frequently quotes Quran to make a point (although he's not really religious), has a very vengeful temper and is pretty much good for only one thing - slaughter. He sees the foreigners as occupiers and hates them with murderous rage. However, Corto proves to be a respectable warrior as well, so Cush grows to like him despite him not being a local. Since Corto's other amoral friend, bandit Rasputin, is nowhere around, he carefully befriends Cush. Unfortunately, Cush really is just a pale shadow of Rasputin's character with none of his wicked charm or funny moments. Still, their time together does make for a solid tough little adventure.
Most Corto's adventures are like a cross between an old b&w Hollywood epic adventure combined with the sensibilities of a serious historian. Although Corto's feats may seem ridiculous at times, the locations he visits and the events he witnesses are presented in a highly atmospheric, quite brutal and often realistic way with a touch of comical, while the slow depressing intensity of the adventure never dissipates. The stylistic brooding conservative art design is quite atmospheric, very faithful to the comic and the animation looks less cheep than it is. You'd never guess the films were partly animated in North Korea (no joke). This is where we come to the third story in this anthology and the only one that has any references to the other movies. Titled "Leopard-Men", the short has nothing to do with Cush or Ethiopia (although it is set in Africa as well) and comes off as a curious and somewhat fun but kind of pointless and a bit silly self-contained adventure straight out of 1930s black and white Hollywood adventure films.
The only somewhat bothersome issue with this anthology (not counting the small scope of the events, the somewhat silly tone of the third adventure and the superficial mumbo-jumbo mysticism that pops up now and then) is Corto's attitude. Although he is all in all a moral man and more or less a good guy, he just loves hanging around some highly questionable characters on occasion (like the aforementioned psychotic Rasputin) for no apparent good reason and Cush definitely fits that bill since he is, first and foremost, a hateful violent calculated man prone to self-loathing with repressed (but still present) sense of realism and self-irony.
In the end, while this is a decent Corto adventure, it's still a bit middle of the road-ish and it's not the best introduction to Corto for the uninitiated.
The movie is available on DVD and has English audio track, which is not the best, but it gets the job done. You can also get "Corto Maltese - Collector's Edition" that's in English and contains all of Corto's animated adventures.
Every story has a basic formula - Corto is hired, convinced or has reasons of his own to go to a certain exotic location where treasure, people or mystery await, but gets caught up in local infighting on the way there and becomes a witness to history. With the help from the people he meets along the way, he eventually reaches his goal, only to discover that the trip was more interesting than the destination. Here however, Corto's is working on a smaller scale. His three adventures don't really have an epic arc or specific historical background, nor do consequences of his actions impact anyone other than the people involved in these three specific stories. In other words - this is the most episodic out of all seven of his animated feature adventures.
Corto himself is a trustworthy tall, thin, slick, charming man with very sentimental and laconic view of life, who easily makes friends and can handle himself in most fights, although on occasion he does act brash and bites off more than he can chew. Corto has no problems with violence or killing when deemed necessary, but he is disturbed by death and pain of the innocents. He often tries to help those oppressed or in need he meets on his journeys, which often gets him into serious trouble. However, he never fights lost battles and has a distinctive sense of self-preservation, as well as lots of acquaintances and luck. The ladies are often attracted to his charm, attitude and willingness to take action, but also to his slight naiveté that sometimes they and even some of his temporary allies try to take advantage of. However, Corto is no James Bond and while he often cares about his female companions in a platonic way, he rarely beds the girl, unless he's actually interested in her.
One could call him the European Indiana Jones, although Corto, as a fan of poetry and art, has only superficial knowledge of archeology, kills somewhat more indiscriminatingly, often waxes poetic and his world is much more adult, dramatic and darker than Indy's with little to no magical, fantastical or sci-fi elements. These mystical elements do run through this specific compilation, but don't really influence the story in any significant manner.
The tree stories presented here all come from Corto's comic book issue eponymously titled The Ethiopian. The first two stories focus on a specific Enthiopian - the coldblooded amoral tribal warrior from Ethiopia called Cush. He frequently quotes Quran to make a point (although he's not really religious), has a very vengeful temper and is pretty much good for only one thing - slaughter. He sees the foreigners as occupiers and hates them with murderous rage. However, Corto proves to be a respectable warrior as well, so Cush grows to like him despite him not being a local. Since Corto's other amoral friend, bandit Rasputin, is nowhere around, he carefully befriends Cush. Unfortunately, Cush really is just a pale shadow of Rasputin's character with none of his wicked charm or funny moments. Still, their time together does make for a solid tough little adventure.
Most Corto's adventures are like a cross between an old b&w Hollywood epic adventure combined with the sensibilities of a serious historian. Although Corto's feats may seem ridiculous at times, the locations he visits and the events he witnesses are presented in a highly atmospheric, quite brutal and often realistic way with a touch of comical, while the slow depressing intensity of the adventure never dissipates. The stylistic brooding conservative art design is quite atmospheric, very faithful to the comic and the animation looks less cheep than it is. You'd never guess the films were partly animated in North Korea (no joke). This is where we come to the third story in this anthology and the only one that has any references to the other movies. Titled "Leopard-Men", the short has nothing to do with Cush or Ethiopia (although it is set in Africa as well) and comes off as a curious and somewhat fun but kind of pointless and a bit silly self-contained adventure straight out of 1930s black and white Hollywood adventure films.
The only somewhat bothersome issue with this anthology (not counting the small scope of the events, the somewhat silly tone of the third adventure and the superficial mumbo-jumbo mysticism that pops up now and then) is Corto's attitude. Although he is all in all a moral man and more or less a good guy, he just loves hanging around some highly questionable characters on occasion (like the aforementioned psychotic Rasputin) for no apparent good reason and Cush definitely fits that bill since he is, first and foremost, a hateful violent calculated man prone to self-loathing with repressed (but still present) sense of realism and self-irony.
In the end, while this is a decent Corto adventure, it's still a bit middle of the road-ish and it's not the best introduction to Corto for the uninitiated.
The movie is available on DVD and has English audio track, which is not the best, but it gets the job done. You can also get "Corto Maltese - Collector's Edition" that's in English and contains all of Corto's animated adventures.
