This is a parable (& a wake-up call) to all those who feel sufficiently insulated from global pressures so that they feel immune to the effects to which most other people are subject.
The Finzi-Continis are an aristocratic, wealthy, "connected" Jewish family in Italy in the 1930s-40s. Mussolini's Fascist party followed the lead of Germany's Hitler/Nazis' anti-Semitism and purging of Jews, at first slowly following suit (denying Jews library use was among the earlier, then denying university graduation for Jews, then forbidding marriage between Jews and non-Jews, then denying any possibility of non-Jews working for Jews), etc., etc. They increasingly tightened their anti-Semitic noose.
The social position of the Finzi-Continis and their walled garden seemed (at first) to keep these gathering restrictions at bay and inconsequential. E.g., when (early on) Jews were prohibited from using public tennis courts, young Jews flocked to the estate garden of the aristocratic Finzi-Continis, which had tennis courts. At first, they have little concern with the gradually tightening restrictions, the increasing anti-Semitism, and no sense there's a growing tsunami.
But restrictions kept tightening much further.
I saw the movie at a retired university faculty film series presenting great films. There were a number of hankies daubing eyes at the conclusion.
I had problems keeping some of the film's 20-ish male characters distinct from each other (maybe those fluent in Italian wouldn't have that problem) as well as in some of the flashbacks to earlier times. Also the English subtitles sometimes quit the screen before I'd completely read them.
BUT, all in all, this is a VERY important, consequential film that I've wanted to see for years.
"No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were. Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee..........." -- John Donne
The Finzi-Continis are an aristocratic, wealthy, "connected" Jewish family in Italy in the 1930s-40s. Mussolini's Fascist party followed the lead of Germany's Hitler/Nazis' anti-Semitism and purging of Jews, at first slowly following suit (denying Jews library use was among the earlier, then denying university graduation for Jews, then forbidding marriage between Jews and non-Jews, then denying any possibility of non-Jews working for Jews), etc., etc. They increasingly tightened their anti-Semitic noose.
The social position of the Finzi-Continis and their walled garden seemed (at first) to keep these gathering restrictions at bay and inconsequential. E.g., when (early on) Jews were prohibited from using public tennis courts, young Jews flocked to the estate garden of the aristocratic Finzi-Continis, which had tennis courts. At first, they have little concern with the gradually tightening restrictions, the increasing anti-Semitism, and no sense there's a growing tsunami.
But restrictions kept tightening much further.
I saw the movie at a retired university faculty film series presenting great films. There were a number of hankies daubing eyes at the conclusion.
I had problems keeping some of the film's 20-ish male characters distinct from each other (maybe those fluent in Italian wouldn't have that problem) as well as in some of the flashbacks to earlier times. Also the English subtitles sometimes quit the screen before I'd completely read them.
BUT, all in all, this is a VERY important, consequential film that I've wanted to see for years.
"No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were. Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee..........." -- John Donne