The movie is visually well-made, albeit the storytelling lies on the "tell, don't show" side.
This movie is the first one I know of which talks about the foibe massacres, and it should be appreciated for talking about this subject.
The way the story is told is biased, as if Mussolini's Pola speech, Sisak, or Jasenovac, and the fascist cruelties like the blinding of Ruza Petrovic never existed. The fascist occupation is shown as a peaceful and bloodless field trip; only the Fascist Italianization is shown in the movie, and consequently the killing of fascists and Italians has a flavor of a cruel, unprovoked aggression. It was cruel, for sure, but unprovoked? Not so sure about it.
To be clear, it is completely legit to condemn the crimes of a totalitarism, be it the fascist regime or Tito's communist regime. What I find unjust is to show the reaction of an oppressed population, while deliberately omitting the action (the action being mass murders, deportations and war crimes against civilians) that lead to the reaction, and even depicting those responsible of said action as cool, disciplinate, peaceful guys.
But, as I said, this is the first movie about this subject, and it should be appreciated for this.
Despite its revisionist nature, it is an improvement on the even more biased TV series "Il cuore nel pozzo" which preceded it on the same subject.
If the trend will be the same, hopefully, the voice of historians will cover the omissions of the neo-fascist fanbase, and less biased movies may come in the future.
This movie is the first one I know of which talks about the foibe massacres, and it should be appreciated for talking about this subject.
The way the story is told is biased, as if Mussolini's Pola speech, Sisak, or Jasenovac, and the fascist cruelties like the blinding of Ruza Petrovic never existed. The fascist occupation is shown as a peaceful and bloodless field trip; only the Fascist Italianization is shown in the movie, and consequently the killing of fascists and Italians has a flavor of a cruel, unprovoked aggression. It was cruel, for sure, but unprovoked? Not so sure about it.
To be clear, it is completely legit to condemn the crimes of a totalitarism, be it the fascist regime or Tito's communist regime. What I find unjust is to show the reaction of an oppressed population, while deliberately omitting the action (the action being mass murders, deportations and war crimes against civilians) that lead to the reaction, and even depicting those responsible of said action as cool, disciplinate, peaceful guys.
But, as I said, this is the first movie about this subject, and it should be appreciated for this.
Despite its revisionist nature, it is an improvement on the even more biased TV series "Il cuore nel pozzo" which preceded it on the same subject.
If the trend will be the same, hopefully, the voice of historians will cover the omissions of the neo-fascist fanbase, and less biased movies may come in the future.