One of the stories that left a strong impression on the young Marras wasThe Beguiled, the 1971 gothic drama directed by Don Siegel and starring Clint Eastwood and Geraldine Page.
Marras’s soldier has a more fashion-conscious streak than Eastwood did in that movie. “He drags about a large travel bag with lots of memorabilia, scraps of cloth, passementeries, trimmings, old buttons. He sits and waits and remembers; to fend off melancholia, he starts making clothes for himself, haphazardly patching decorations and embroideries on sweaters, jackets, and pants made of crinkled fabrics,” narrated Marras. For a DIY soldier, he actually looked quite handsomely turned out.