A movie filmed in Sparta is set to be released on August 4 on demand via Amazon Prime Video and other streaming sites.
The film, “Reveille,” which is set in Italy, was filmed entirely in the countryside of Sparta, southeast of Springfield. The movie takes place in 1943 when an American squad engages in a skirmish with German soldiers along the Winter Line in central Italy. Amidst a barrage of artillery, the Americans must honor the rules of war and protect their wounded prisoners. The film was written and directed by Michael Akkerman who wanted to be sure the story was historically accurate.
Kathryn Vicat, who works for Footsteps Researchers, helped ensure that it was.
“Everything regarding the soldiers themselves is dead-on because the actors actually had the soldiers’ files and in some cases spoke with their families,” said Vicat.
In the film, the soldiers are huddled together in a cave and made to see the enemy as human. They wrestle with what the film’s producers call “unimaginable moral questions that lie outside the boundaries of nationality and allegiance.”
Vicat explains how they found the perfect site for the filming after looking at several sites.
“A friend of ours suggested this cave in Sparta, and it was more than a cave – there was multiple caves on the property, and they were accessible,” she said.
Myra Miller, the film’s executive producer and a Nixa native who is the co-founder of Footsteps Researchers, said in a statement that, having traveled in Italy where the story takes place, she knew the Ozarks limestone caverns and farmland would be a good match for Akkerman’s script.
Vicat said she hopes this movie will open the door for other filming opportunities in southwest Missouri.
