It tells the story of an odd couple of army buddies in World War I; the movie, while played on a comedic register, does not hide from the viewer the horrors and grimness of trench warfare.

Overwhelmed by fear, they admit that they have crucial information on the Italian counterattack on Piave river, and in order to save themselves, they decide to pass it on to the enemy.

[3] Another review stated "Italian comedy was getting to grips with grand cinema and this had to pass through a direct contact with social reality and great labour in psychologically defining character.

[4] The remarkable crowd scenes are accompanied by acute characterizations of many characters, human and fearful anti-heroes, resigned to their fate in solidarity with each other, united by their enforced participation in a disaster which in the end overwhelms them.

In the citation for an honorary degree from the University of Udine on 30 May 2005, Monicelli was rewarded "for his extraordinary contribution to [public] knowledge of Italian history through his films, particularly 'The Great War'.

"[5] The short final sequence shows the two main characters redeem themselves by making a small but courageous gesture of sacrifice, one as a "swaggering hero" and the other as a "heroic coward", the latter being Sordi's role, for which he won the Nastro d'Argento for Best Actor.

One reviewer wrote "Its antirhetorical character brought press reactions right from the start of filming, but its public success contributed more than anything else to the de-mythologising of patriotic and romantic historiography which had always clouded the massacre that was the First World War under the oratory of ardour and sacrifice.

In particular I turned to Lussu, saying that he deserved to be rewarded for the borrowings from his book, but (perhaps because he was convinced Italian comedy was rubbish) he told me that he would have nothing to do with it and we could realise the film just as we liked[9]The journalist and writer Carlo Salsa, who had actually fought in these areas in the First World War, was a script consultant, helping with the story, dialogue and background, all particularly vivid and original.

The scenes were mostly shot in the province of Udine, at Gemona del Friuli, near Venzone, at Sella Sant'Agnese, in the fort at Palmanova and in the Nespoledo district of Lestizza from 25 May to mid-June 1959.