UN CIELO STELLATO SOPRA IL GHETTO DI ROMA/ A STARRY SKY ABOVE THE ROMAN GHETTO

Italy, 2020, 100 minutes, Colour.
Bianca Panconi, Aurora Cancian, Daniele Rampello, Lucia Zotti, Giulio Base.
Directed by Giulio Base.

A drama set in Rome in the modern day. However, it is also story about Jews during the German occupation in Rome in the 1940s, the rounding up of Jews, their persecution, internment – as well as showing sequences where sympathetic clergy and, especially, with nuns and their convents, talking in many of the refugees, especially the children.

The 1940s story concerns a little girl, Sarah Cohen, whose parents are taken away and one of the younger sisters, Sister Lucia, hides her. After the war Sarah is adopted but the documentation lost. The film also has a background story of Sister Lucia, a young girl, falling in love, her becoming pregnant, condemnation by her parents, and her child taken away and adopted.

In the present, with a focus on young music student and her friend at school, Sofia, she finds a hidden letter in a suitcase in the attic and decides to pursue the origins of the letter, addressed to Sarah Cohen. This involves insensitively going to the great synagogue of Rome on the Sabbath, turned away by young men, later encountering them as students, bonding with them, going to a Jewish scholar, searching out documents, going to visit Sister Lucia, a very elderly nun by this, hearing the story, and Sofia discovering that the adoptive parents of Sarah had the name of her grandfather. Her grandmother, a very lively character lives at home, her father musician travelling abroad and performing, her rather haughty mother in the house.

All the students, Jewish and non-Jewish, decide to put on a play re-enacting the events, are reposed by the school as well as the Jewish parents. Ultimately, there is discovery, the grandmother finding her identity, moved by the play, and some kind of dialogue between the Jewish and non-Jewish people of Rome.

The film is directed by Giulio Base, director of many films, here appearing as Sofia’s father.

1. The title? The focus on the Roman Jewish community? The ghetto? The great synagogue? The story from the World War II Jewish past? A contemporary Jewish story? A story for dialogue between Jews and non-Jews?

2. The Roman setting, the vistas of the city, homes and apartments, schools, convents, rehearsal space and performance? The musical score?

3. Audience response to the 1940s story, Jews in Rome, the German occupation, the persecution of the Jews, escapes, imprisonments, children and their being sheltered by the Catholic Church, clergy, convents? The story of Sarah Cohen? The roundup, invasion of the convents, Sarah being hidden by Sister Lucia, surviving? Her post-war adoption? The portrait of the nuns, their action, superior and her treatment by the military?

4. The contemporary story, the focus on Sofia, her friend, music, studies and the sequences at the music school? The suitcase in the attic, finding the letter? The story of the case bought secondhand? The letter to Sarah Cohen? The challenge for Sofia, wanting to find out the story behind the letter?

5. Sofia and her family, her genial grandmother at home, her father the musician, on tour, performance, the phone calls? Her mother and her haughty attitude?

6. Sofia and her friend going to the synagogue, insensitive to the Sabbath and customs, the encounter with the young men at the gate, refused entry, surly response? The encounter with the young men, outside the synagogue situation, interactions, friendship? Discussions about the issues? Ruben and his boxing and the going to see the match (with their enthusiastic grandmother)? The growing friendship and bond between Sophia and Ruben? Her friend and his friend?

7. The investigation, the Jewish expert, his advice, the information? His continued help? The visit to the convent, the superior, Sister Lucia, her age, fragile, the discussions with Sofia, the flashbacks to her own story, the young man, her age, the bond, her disapproving father, her pregnancy, her being put in the convent? Her care for Sarah Cohen? The adoption, not knowing the name of the new parents?

8. Searching for documents, the registers of the period? The discovery of the name of Sarah’s adoptive parents? The name of Sofia’s grandfather? The further developments? The true story? The grandmother, her memories, her being brought up as a Catholic, the Jewish issue? The effect on her?

9. Sofia and her talking with her father? Her mother’s reactions?

10. The friends, the possibility of putting on a play, collaboration between all the students, the writing and the author, costumes, decor, music, casting, rehearsals, finding the location, the electrical accident? The negative reaction of the parents, the meetings and discussions?

11. The perseverance of the students, the meeting of the parents, Sofia being invited to address them, her speech, change of heart?

12. The performance, the resolution of the search? The bond between all the students, parents dialoguing, Jews and non-Jews? The effect for severe, the relationship with Ruben? The ceremony?

13. Memories of the war years, for the Jews in Rome, the consequences?