*** MINOR SPOILER AHEAD***
Probably one of the most poignant, brutally realistic and heartbreaking portrayals of the everyday reality of war and its effects on the "man on the street", told through the story of a mother and her two young sons, trying hard to survive the misery of WW II.
They do survive - but not unscathed. After much strife and suffering liberation comes; but... LA STORIA CONTINUA. (Hi)story marches on. It always does. It marches over dead bodies, it has no time for "losers" who are not tough enough, who yearn after something else, not mere physical survival.
Claudia Cardinale is at her absolute acting best. And unfair as this thought may be, one cannot help but thinking: what a waste of talent of her previous films were!
Probably one of the most poignant, brutally realistic and heartbreaking portrayals of the everyday reality of war and its effects on the "man on the street", told through the story of a mother and her two young sons, trying hard to survive the misery of WW II.
They do survive - but not unscathed. After much strife and suffering liberation comes; but... LA STORIA CONTINUA. (Hi)story marches on. It always does. It marches over dead bodies, it has no time for "losers" who are not tough enough, who yearn after something else, not mere physical survival.
Claudia Cardinale is at her absolute acting best. And unfair as this thought may be, one cannot help but thinking: what a waste of talent of her previous films were!