Between September 29 and October 5 1944 on Monte Sole, an area of the Appenine Mountains near Bologna, S.S. Officer Weder reported "the execution of 728 bandits." These "bandits" were in fact around 770 civilian inhabitants of the area - women, priests, the elderly, and over two hundred children - who were systematically killed by the local SS troops in a sweeping reprisal for partisan activity in the area. "L'Uomo Che Verrà" ("The Man Who Will Come") re-enacts the event through the eyes of a young girl who observes the world in silence.
Working oneself up to seeing such a film is nearly always a task - we know how it will end, and we know it will be devastating. But as the beginning of the film focuses on the everyday lives of Martina (a little girl gone mute ever since her baby brother died in her arms) and her family, one almost forgets the film's grim destination. Almost.
The film is fanatically, sometimes brutally, devoted to portraying real life. There are no heroes (except for perhaps Martina herself), and very few clear villains (except for perhaps one or two of the SS who mark themselves out); there is no love story, and, eventually, no easy release from the horror. The partisans are neither heroic saviors nor selfish bandits; merely men who are waging battle against the invaders, sometimes committing ugly acts as a matter of course. The colors in the cinematography sometimes resemble old photographs, the clothes are dirty, torn, and in the case of the little girl, almost outgrown, and, realistically, nearly all the dialog is spoken in Bolognese dialect, which is so foreign from standard Italian that nearly the entire movie is subtitled in Italian for the benefit of audiences on the rest of the peninsula.
It is also beautiful. The cinematography shows the Appenines in all their green, stark glory, and the moments of happiness and peace and laughter that the family find even in wartime, though they contribute to the realism rather than soften it, render the film bearable and lend it beauty.
While we in the Western hemisphere are aware of the horrors of Holocaust, Normandy, and war the Pacific, the ugly and frequently horrifying Italian front has long gone ignored or forgotten. Once this film is released with English subtitles, with any luck, this omission might be remedied.
Working oneself up to seeing such a film is nearly always a task - we know how it will end, and we know it will be devastating. But as the beginning of the film focuses on the everyday lives of Martina (a little girl gone mute ever since her baby brother died in her arms) and her family, one almost forgets the film's grim destination. Almost.
The film is fanatically, sometimes brutally, devoted to portraying real life. There are no heroes (except for perhaps Martina herself), and very few clear villains (except for perhaps one or two of the SS who mark themselves out); there is no love story, and, eventually, no easy release from the horror. The partisans are neither heroic saviors nor selfish bandits; merely men who are waging battle against the invaders, sometimes committing ugly acts as a matter of course. The colors in the cinematography sometimes resemble old photographs, the clothes are dirty, torn, and in the case of the little girl, almost outgrown, and, realistically, nearly all the dialog is spoken in Bolognese dialect, which is so foreign from standard Italian that nearly the entire movie is subtitled in Italian for the benefit of audiences on the rest of the peninsula.
It is also beautiful. The cinematography shows the Appenines in all their green, stark glory, and the moments of happiness and peace and laughter that the family find even in wartime, though they contribute to the realism rather than soften it, render the film bearable and lend it beauty.
While we in the Western hemisphere are aware of the horrors of Holocaust, Normandy, and war the Pacific, the ugly and frequently horrifying Italian front has long gone ignored or forgotten. Once this film is released with English subtitles, with any luck, this omission might be remedied.