A.K.A.: La notte di
San Lorenzo
Country: Italy
Genre(s): Drama /
War
Director: Paolo
Taviani / Vittorio Taviani
Cast: Omero
Antonutti / Margarita Lozano / Claudio Bigagli
Plot
In 1944,
the people of San Martino abandon the town when they learn that the Nazis plan
to destroy it. They secretly set off in the night in search of the
American army rumored to be approaching.
What I
Liked
Not your
typical World War II film, “The Night of the Shooting Stars” is less about war
than it is about life and humanity, regardless of the historic details.
While the events of war set in motion the exodus that becomes the story’s plot
and the fear and violence that accompany war make memorable appearances through
the story, the power of the film is in the people of San Martino, the beauty of
their relationships, and their refusal to give up on their way of life.
Homeless,
hungry, and lost, these characters still play, argue, tell stories, laugh, and
love. Confronted with heartbreaking loss and desperation, one would think
they would find their traditional values, manners, and responsibilities
trivial, yet they continue to adhere to these ways, not out of any sense of perseverance
or even necessity, but simply because it is who they are. The triumph
here is that the people of San Martino never lose their identity and their
community, even when the town itself has been laid to waste in piles of rubble
and blood.
Contributing
to this theme are the perspectives of the narrator, who was but a six year old
girl at the time of these events. The child has little to no concept of
Nazis and Americans and the politics surrounding the events that have sent her
and the others off on this adventure. In the beginning, everything to her
seems exciting, with some of the more terrifying events coming across to her as
something magical or mysterious. When the roar of enemy planes has
everyone else frozen in fear, the girl seems to interpret the stillness as a
game and enjoys trying to balance on one leg as long as she can, oblivious to
the threat. Even when she witnesses several people she loves being shot
and killed, she imagines ancient Trojan warriors rising up out of the wheat
fields to avenge the deaths. Thus the film is less of the coming-of-age
story for the girl that one might expect, and more of a tribute to childhood’s
ability to remain intact through change and tragedy.
What I
Disliked
“The
Night of the Shooting Stars” does a marvelous job of finding beauty in tragedy
and yet I was not moved as profoundly by the movie as I had hoped or as the
filmmakers likely intended. Perhaps the child's innocent, unaware, sometimes surreal impression of it all dampened some of that emotion. However, I think the greatest problem is that the story is narrated, which might have provided a barrier to getting emotionally invested in the characters of the story. The while time I felt very much like I was being told a story, not like I was personally experiencing the events on screen. Thus there was an observer's distance, an objectivity that kept the film from achieving its full potential impact.
Most Memorable Scene:
*spoiler alert!*
Early in
the film, the people of San Martino are divided on what to do. While some
make plans to escape in the night and seek refuge from the Americans, others
opt to stay and rely upon the promise of the Nazis that they will not kill
anyone who gathers in the town church. Hindsight about the atrocities
committed by Nazis and familiarity with the conventions of tragedy in motion
pictures makes it easy to predict what will happen to those who stay behind in
the church. Yet, when the moment comes and survivors come pouring out of
the church doors, bleeding, moaning, and in shock, the viewer still can’t help
but shake his or her head at the waste and evil of it all.
My
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
No comments:
Post a Comment