On Fri, 7 Dec 2001, Mike Ferro wrote:
> I saw a 1980s Italian documentary last year (shown by an
> Italian-American club in San Francisco of which I am a member) which
> interviewed Italian fascist army officers who protected Jews despite
> repeated demands by Hitler and his generals to deliver them up for
> killing. Mussolini passed on the demands repeatedly to his officers
> and they steadily refused to obey.
>
> The interviewed fascist officers said things such as "these people
> were our friends, neighbors, co-workers. How could we abandon them?"
There is a very beautiful Italian film on this theme that came out last year called "The Sky Will Fall (Il Cielo Cade)." It's based on a true story about a Jewish Italian patrone who refused to leave when he easily could have, and who not only lived out the war in peace among his neighbors, but survived Germans taking over his mansion and making it into a command center for a year. He never hid his religion, and even played chess with the Kommandant, while continuing to be regarded by the locals as the patrone to the very end. I won't say how it ends, just that it's very moving and displays many nuances and contradictions of Italian feeling. And it's a beautifully made film. I don't think it's ever been distributed here, but I saw a version with English subtitles at a festival, so it'd be perfect for an Italian American club with an interest in film. It's directed by Andrea and Antonio Frazzi.
Michael
__________________________________________________________________________ Michael Pollak................New York City..............mpollak at panix.com