The Last Victory (2004)

• 79%
• 2004
• Documentary
• John Appel

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?