The Profession of Arms

The Profession of Arms

2001 · 105 min · ★ 6.7 · Drama, History, War

In autumn of 1526, the Emperor, Charles V, sends his German landsknechts led by Georg von Frundsberg to march towards Rome. The inferior papal armies, commanded by Giovanni de'Medici, try to chase them in the midst of a harsh winter. Nevertheless, the Imperial armies manage to cross the rivers along their march and get cannons thanks to the maneuvers of its Lords. In a skirmish, Giovanni de'Medici is wounded in the leg by a falconet shot. The attempts to cure him fail and he dies. The Imperial armies assault Rome. The film is beautifully but unassumingly set, and shows the hard conditions in which war is waged and its lack of glory. It ends straightforwardly with the declaration made after the death of Giovanni de'Medici by the commanders of the armies in Europe of not using again fire weapons because of their cruelty.

Directed by Ermanno Olmi · Written by Ermanno Olmi

Your Rating

Where to Watch

Streaming

Cast

Christo Jivkov Giovanni De' Medici
Sergio Grammatico Federico II Gonzaga
Dimitar Ratchkov Lucantonio Cuppano
Fabio Giubbani Matteo Cusastro
Saša Vulićević Pietro Aretino
Desislava Tenekedjieva Caterina De' Medici
Sandra Ceccarelli Nobildonna di Mantova
Aldo Toscano Aloisio Gonzaga
Franco Palmieri Paolo Giovio
Franco Andreani Ambasciatore di Carlo V
Kalin Arsov Barcarolo
Giancarlo Belelli Alfonso d'Este

Make it a double feature

3h 34m together

The Profession of Arms

Tickets

Both from Ermanno Olmi.

More from Ermanno OlmiSee all →

Un Ballo in Maschera

Un Ballo in Maschera · 2005

Un Ballo in Maschera

MovieDramaMusic

Live performance from Oper Leipzig, 26 November 2005.

In the Summertime

In the Summertime · 1971

In the Summertime

A young man shares his fantasies with a young girl who is already on the threshold of disillusion. Will she respond to him?

The Scavengers

The Scavengers · 1972

MovieTV MovieDrama

After World War II an Italian soldier returns to his hometown near the Alps and, unable to find a job, hooks up with a crotchety hermit who scavenges buried shells and bombs for scrap metal.

Il Posto

Il Posto · 1961

With his family mired in financial troubles, Domenico moves to Milan, Italy, from his small town to get a job in lieu of furthering his education. A lack of options forces him to take a position as a messenger at a big company, where he hopes to receive a promotion soon. There, Domenico meets Antonietta, a young woman in a similar situation as himself. The two form a tentative relationship, but the soulless nature of their jobs threatens to keep them apart.

Tokyo Olympiad

Tokyo Olympiad · 1965

MovieDocumentary

This impressionistic portrait of the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics pays as much attention to the crowds and workers as it does to the actual competitive events. Highlights include an epic pole-vaulting match between West Germany and America, and the final marathon race through Tokyo's streets. Two athletes are highlighted: Ethiopian marathon runner Abebe Bikila, who receives his second gold medal, and runner Ahamed Isa from Chad, representing a country younger than he is.

The Fiancés

The Fiancés · 1963

A young man has a renewed interest in his girlfriend when he takes a job that separates the two.

The Tree of Wooden Clogs

The Tree of Wooden Clogs · 1978

The Tree of Wooden Clogs

On a turn-of-the-20th-century northern Italian farm, a group of sharecroppers eke out a threadbare existence. A priest advises Batisti and his wife Batistina that their young son Minec should be formally educated, so they sacrifice his help in the fields and send him to school. When Minec's wooden shoe breaks one day, Batisti--in an act of desperation--puts the family's future at risk to replace the clog.

Manon: Finestra 2

Manon: Finestra 2 · 1956

Manon: Finestra 2

MovieDocumentary

At the end of the war, he was hired by Edison and in 1951 he made a film on all the important hydroeletrical plants built in that period. In the following years, Olmi directed around 40 documentaries, including La diga del ghiacciaio, Pattuglia di Passo San Giacomo, Tre fili fino a Milano, Michelino 1aB (written by Goffredo Parise), Manon finestra 2 and Grigio (whose screenplay was written by Pier Paolo Pasolini).

La valle di pietra

La valle di pietra · 1992

La valle di pietra

In the 18th Century, in Bohemia, a government surveyor meet a priest during a lunch and remained intrigued by him. Years later, in a stony valley, the two men meet again and form a deep friendship.

Una storia milanese

Una storia milanese · 1962

Una storia milanese

MovieDramaRomance

Milan, one winter in the early sixties. Valeria, a free young woman who usually goes from one man to another, falls in love with Giampiero. This time, this is a serious relationship to the point that she contemplates marriage. All the more since she gets pregnant.

Greenery Will Bloom Again

Greenery Will Bloom Again · 2014

Greenery Will Bloom Again

World War I, Italian north-eastern front after the 1917 bloody battles on the Altipiano. A group of soldiers face the difficulty of war in a story that unfolds in the space of one night. Events follow one after the other without any kind of pattern: the peaceful mountains suddenly become a place where men die. But every story told in this film is a true story.

The Legend of the Holy Drinker

The Legend of the Holy Drinker · 1988

The Legend of the Holy Drinker

Andreas Kartak, a homeless man living under the bridges of Paris, is lent 200 francs by a stranger as long as he promises to repay it to a local church when he can afford to. Kartak is determined to pay back his debt but circumstances, and his alcoholism, forever intervene.

Tickets

Tickets · 2005

MovieComedyDrama

A train travels across Italy toward Rome. Onboard is a professor who daydreams a conversation with a love that never was; a family of Albanian refugees who switch trains and steal a ticket; three brash Scottish soccer fans en route to a match; and a complaining widow travelling to a memorial service for her late husband who's accompanied by a community-service volunteer who's assisting her. Interactions among these Europeans turn on class and nationalism, courtesy and decorum, and opportunities for kindness.

A Man Named John

A Man Named John · 1965

A Man Named John

MovieDramaHistory

Based on the diary Pope John XXIII kept between the ages of 14 and 18, his lifelong concern for tolerance, the underprivileged, and world peace is told. Rod Steiger, in the central role, acts as "intermediary" between the Pope and the audience, interpreting John's words, thoughts and actions. Steiger visits the actual places in which John lived, recreating the conditions, environment, and forces that affected his development. Through this unusual technique, we are brought close to an extraordinary man - one who's able to win the love of many people of all faiths.

Genesis: The Creation and the Flood

Genesis: The Creation and the Flood · 1994

Genesis: The Creation and the Flood

MovieAdventureDrama

An all-enveloping darkness. Suddenly, a child's voice, frightened, questioning, pierces the darkness... The first flickering rays of light begin to sculpt mysterious shapes out of the darkness... Among them, a very old man. He reassures the child, exhorting him to see the wonders of the earth. And it is with this child's eyes that we will witness the creation of the world.

Rainbow: A Private Affair

Rainbow: A Private Affair · 2017

Rainbow: A Private Affair

Summer 1943, Piedmont, Italy. Milton loves Fulvia who plays with his love: she only likes the depth of his thought and the letters he writes to her. One year later, Milton has joined the Resistance and fights beside other partisans. He learns during a conversation that Fulvia was secretly in love with his best friend Giorgio, a partisan like him. Milton decides to go find Giorgio in the Langhe region of Italy with all its misty hills...But Giorgio has just been arrested by the Fascists.

More Like This

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen · 2012

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

MovieDramaRomance

A fisheries expert is approached by a consultant to help realize a sheik's vision of bringing the sport of fly-fishing to the desert and embarks on an upstream journey of faith and fish to prove the impossible possible.

Into the White

Into the White · 2012

During World War II, enemy fighter pilots find themselves face to face after shooting down one another's planes over a desolate landscape. In order to survive, they must set aside the rules of war.

The Four Feathers

The Four Feathers · 2002

The Four Feathers

MovieActionAdventure

A young British officer resigns his post when he learns of his regiment's plan to ship out to the Sudan for the conflict with the Mahdi. His friends and fiancée send him four white feathers as symbols of what they view as his cowardice. To redeem his honor, he disguises himself as an Arab and secretly saves their lives.

Soldier

Soldier · 1998

MovieScience FictionAction

Sergeant Todd is a veteran soldier for an elite group of the armed forces. After being defeated by a new breed of genetically engineered soldiers, he is dumped on a waste planet and left for dead. He soon interacts with a group of crash survivors who lead out a peaceful existence. The peace is broken as the new soldiers land on the planet to eliminate the colony, which Sergeant Todd must defend.

Trench 11

Trench 11 · 2017

MovieHorrorThriller

In the final days of WWI a shell-shocked soldier must lead a mission deep beneath the trenches to stop a German plot that could turn the tide of the war.

EverAfter

EverAfter · 1998

MovieDramaRomance

Danielle, a vibrant young woman, was forced into servitude after the death of her father when she was a young girl. Danielle's stepmother, Rodmilla, is a heartless woman who forces Danielle to do the cooking and cleaning, while she tries to marry off the eldest of her two daughters to the prince. But Danielle's life takes a wonderful turn when, under the guise of a visiting royal, she meets the charming Prince Henry.

Buffalo '66

Buffalo '66 · 1998

MovieDramaRomance

Billy is released after five years in prison. In the next moment, he kidnaps teenage student Layla and visits his parents with her, pretending she is his girlfriend and they will soon marry.

The Longest Day

The Longest Day · 1962

The Longest Day

The retelling of June 6, 1944, from the perspectives of the Germans, US, British, Canadians, and the Free French. Marshall Erwin Rommel, touring the defenses being established as part of the Reich's Atlantic Wall, notes to his officers that when the Allied invasion comes they must be stopped on the beach. "For the Allies as well as the Germans, it will be the longest day"

More on Prime VideoSee all →

The Last Sunrise

The Last Sunrise · 2026

The Last Sunrise

MovieRomanceDrama

Ry, a college student with a chronic illness, escapes to Mallorca for the summer with her mother, where she unexpectedly falls for a local and begins to embrace living in the moment. But as her condition worsens and long-hidden family secrets come to light, everything she has found before summer's end is threatened.

War of the Worlds

War of the Worlds · 2025

War of the Worlds

MovieScience FictionThriller

Will Radford is a top analyst for Homeland Security who tracks potential threats through a mass surveillance program, until one day an attack by an unknown entity leads him to question whether the government is hiding something from him... and from the rest of the world.

Masters of the Universe

Masters of the Universe · 2026

Masters of the Universe

MovieActionFantasy

After being separated for 15 years, the Sword of Power leads Prince Adam back to Eternia, where he discovers his home shattered under the fiendish rule of Skeletor. To save his family and his world, Adam must join forces with his closest allies, Teela and Duncan/Man-At-Arms, and embrace his true destiny as He-Man — the most powerful man in the universe.

The Devil's Mouth

The Devil's Mouth · 2026

The Devil's Mouth

MovieHorrorThriller

A group of college friends' Thailand adventure turns deadly when they become trapped in submerged caves with a dangerous predator. As oxygen runs low, past conflicts emerge in their desperate fight for survival.

The Sheep Detectives

The Sheep Detectives · 2026

The Sheep Detectives

MovieComedyFamily

George Hardy is a shepherd who reads detective novels to his beloved sheep every night, assuming they can't possibly understand. But when a mysterious incident disrupts life on the farm, the sheep realize they must become the detectives. As they follow the clues and investigate human suspects, they prove that even sheep can be brilliant crime-solvers.

The Wrecking Crew

The Wrecking Crew · 2026

The Wrecking Crew

MovieActionComedy

Estranged half-brothers Jonny and James reunite after their father's mysterious death. As they search for the truth, buried secrets reveal a conspiracy threatening to tear their family apart.

Barreda

Barreda · 2026

MovieDramaCrime

A fictionalized drama film based on one of the most shocking crimes in Argentina's history. In 1992, Ricardo Barreda was an unassuming dentist, brutally murdered his wife, mother-in-law, and two adult daughters in their family home. Branding himself as a victim, Ricardo Barreda ignited a media storm and fueled a national scandal.

My Fault

My Fault · 2023

MovieDramaRomance

Noah must leave her city, boyfriend, and friends to move into William Leister's mansion, the flashy and wealthy husband of her mother Rafaela. As a proud and independent 17 year old, Noah resists living in a mansion surrounded by luxury. However, it is there where she meets Nick, her new stepbrother, and the clash of their strong personalities becomes evident from the very beginning.

Crime 101

Crime 101 · 2026

MovieCrimeThriller

When an elusive thief whose high-stakes heists unfold along the iconic 101 freeway in Los Angeles eyes the score of a lifetime, with hopes of this being his final job, his path collides with a disillusioned insurance broker who is facing her own crossroads. Determined to crack the case, a relentless detective closes in on the operation, raising the stakes even higher.

Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan: Ghost War

Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan: Ghost War · 2026

Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan: Ghost War

MovieActionThriller

Jack Ryan is reluctantly pulled back into espionage when an international covert mission unravels a deadly conspiracy. Racing against time, he joins CIA allies Mike November & James Greer and sharp MI6 officer Emma Marlowe to battle a rogue black-ops unit in a high-stakes, deeply personal fight.

Vengeance

Vengeance · 2026

MovieActionThriller

The brutal murder of the wife of “Toro,” a military hero in the special forces, turns him into a man with a single purpose: revenge. After a stroke of fate makes him a millionaire, Carlos transforms his fortune into an arsenal and, together with his closest soldiers, sets out to hunt down those responsible.

Road House

Road House · 2024

MovieActionThriller

Ex-UFC fighter Dalton takes a job as a bouncer at a Florida Keys roadhouse, only to discover that this paradise is not all it seems.

Our Fault

Our Fault · 2025

MovieRomanceDrama

Jenna and Lion's wedding brings about the long-awaited reunion between Noah and Nick after their breakup. Nick's inability to forgive Noah stands as an insurmountable barrier. He, heir to his grandfather's businesses, and she, starting her professional life, resist fueling a flame that's still alive. But now that their paths have crossed again, will love be stronger than resentment?

Beast Race

Beast Race · 2026

MovieActionScience Fiction

In future Rio de Janeiro, a young leader of the resistance must enter a deadly parkour-inspired competition in order to save his sister's life.

Red One

Red One · 2024

MovieActionAdventure

After Santa Claus (codename: Red One) is kidnapped, the North Pole's Head of Security must team up with the world's most infamous tracker in a globe-trotting, action-packed mission to save Christmas.

Over Your Dead Body

Over Your Dead Body · 2026

Over Your Dead Body

MovieActionComedy

A dysfunctional couple head to a remote cabin to "reconnect", but each has secret intentions to kill the other.

Blade Runner

Blade Runner · 1982

MovieScience FictionDrama

In the smog-choked dystopian Los Angeles of 2019, blade runner Rick Deckard is called out of retirement to terminate a quartet of replicants who have escaped to Earth seeking their creator for a way to extend their short life spans.

Your Fault

Your Fault · 2024

MovieDramaRomance

The love between Noah and Nick seems unwavering despite their parents' attempts to separate them. But his job and her entry into college open up their lives to new relationships that will shake the foundations of both their relationship and the Leister family itself.

Your Fault: London

Your Fault: London · 2026

Your Fault: London

MovieRomanceDrama

Nick and Noah are both embarking on life-changing adventures that are threatening to pull them apart—Nick in business with his father and Noah starting a fresh chapter at Oxford University. Now living separate lives, and meeting new people, they find themselves entangled in temptations, rivalries, and betrayals and their bond is tested like never before. As secrets unravel and temptation rises, they must fight to hold onto each other—or risk losing everything.

Jurassic World

Jurassic World · 2015

MovieAdventureScience Fiction

Twenty-two years after the events of Jurassic Park, Isla Nublar now features a fully functioning dinosaur theme park, Jurassic World, as originally envisioned by John Hammond.

Rate this film

Your ratings make Midnight smarter