Waiting for the Barbarians

A magistrate, administrator of an isolated frontier settlement on the border of an unnamed empire, looks forward to an easy retirement until the arrival of colonel Joll, whose task it is to report on the activities of the barbarians and on the security situation on the border. Joll conducts a series of ruthless interrogations. The treatment of the barbarians at his hands and the torture of a young barbarian woman combine to lead the magistrate to a crisis of conscience and a quixotic act of rebellion. (Venice International Film Festival)