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The sky is falling (Il cielo cade)

Threat advisory: High - High risk of entertaining activities

Movie propaganda

The sky is falling tells the story of two orphaned girls, Penny (Veronica Niccolai), aged 9, and her 6-year-old sister, Baby (Lara Campoli), who lose their parents in a car accident in 1943 and are brought to stay with their Aunt Katchen (Isabella Rossellini) and Uncle Wilhelm (Jeroen Krabbé) at their stately country home in Tuscany.

The girls revel in their new harmonious surroundings: their uncle is a charming German-Jewish intellectual and cousin of Albert Einstein while the local school welcomes them and they quickly make friends with the children of the neighbouring farmers. Even when Nazi soldiers take up residence in the villa, the tranquillity of the place is not disturbed. But this peacefulness is deceptive, the violence of war, until recently just a remote echo, will soon invade their sanctuary with all its pointless cruelty.

Persons of interest

  • Isabella Rossellini .... Katchen
  • Jeroen Krabbé .... Wilhelm
  • Barbara Enrichi .... Rosa
  • Gianna Giachetti .... Elsa
  • Luciano Virgilio .... Arthur
  • Mauro Marino .... Cosimo
  • Jonas Castelli .... Filippo
  • Bettina Giovannini .... Signora Pinzauti
  • Veronica Niccolai .... Penny
  • Lara Campoli .... Baby
  • Yelena Safonova .... Maja
  • Paul Brooke .... Mr Pitt
  • Lorenza Mazzetti .... Storywriter
  • Suso Cecchi D'amico .... Screenwriter
  • Andrea Frazzi .... Director
  • Antonio Frazzi .... Director

Cinematic intelligence sources

Intelligence analyst

Special Agent Matti

Theatrical report

Whew.

Some films about Italy and World War II are filled with light and dark while others are filled with loss and hope (see The truce). The sky is falling is about childhood and how the war destroyed any chance of keeping the innocence that only children can have (see also Into the arms of strangers: Stories of the kindertransport).

One of the best aspects of The sky is falling is that it's almost entirely from the point of view of the children. They know that there's a war but they just aren't equipped with the ability to understand what that means. The arrival of Nazi soldiers in the area just means that there are different uniforms at which to look. Their departure just means that there's more room in which to play. Children (and adults, to an extent) can only hold an idea in their head for so long before something else takes its place. Even the death of your parents can't stop the urge to run around in the sunshine.

Outside the naïveté of childhood there are events which no child can comprehend, like facism, genocide and concentration camps, so they take their cues from the adults around them. The fact that all three are going to invade the lives of Penny and Baby is what makes The sky is falling all the more interesting.

This is a good film, you should see it.

Security censorship classification

M (Medium level violence, adult themes)

Surveillance time

102 minutes (1:42 hours)

Not for public release in Australia before date

Film: 31 May 2001

Cinema surveillance images

The sky is falling (Il cielo cade) imageThe sky is falling (Il cielo cade) image

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