Winner of best foreign film and directed by legendary award winner Vittorio de Sica (Bicycle Thieves), the film is a beautiful and haunting story of unrequited love set in WWII in Ferrara, Italy. Giorgio is a middle- class Jewish man who is desperately trying to win over Micol, a beautiful and priviledged Jewish woman who lives in the grand and secluded estate of Finzi Contini.
Set in the late 1930s.
In telling of the disintegration of the Jewish community in one smallish Italian town, De Sica merges his symbols with his story so that they evoke the meaning of the time. The walled garden of the Finzi-Continis is his symbol for this waiting period. – Roger Ebert
Starring Romolo Valli, Lino Capolicchio, Helmut Berger, Fabio Testi, Dominique Sanda, Camillo Cesarei, Inna Alexeiff, Camillo Angelini-Rota, Cinzia Bruno.
In Italian with English subtitles.
Rated R (I believe for for some sexual content)
Norte: This is a wonderful, powerful portrayal of the period.