Photo via Menemsha Films
A Starry Night Above the Roman Ghetto
In recreating the Nazi roundup of Jews in black and white, Italian director Giulio Base struggles against the terrifying depiction of similar events in Schindler’s List. Yet, while working with fewer resources than Steven Spielberg, Base catches the essence as hateful faces drive fearful ones from their homes and into waiting trucks.
Shooting historical scenes in black and white is a familiar tool in many filmmakers’ kits. In A Starry Sky Above the Roman Ghetto, Base employs it best when showing a small group of Jews who find precarious sanctuary in a convent. Here, black and white reduces visual distraction. The focus is on the expressive faces glowing against the dark settings and darker emotions.
Most of A Starry Sky Above the Roman Ghetto unfolds in present-day Rome while looping back when necessary to scenes from the city’s troubled past. The protagonist, Sofia, is a high school music student determined to follow her father’s success in classical music and undeterred by her mother’s insistence that she study something else, anything, as a fall back. The father-mother-daughter dynamic is sharply etched before the story’s trigger is pulled. Sofia finds a suitcase in the attic containing a black and white photo of a young girl and a poignant letter addressed to that girl by her mother. The girl’s name was Sarah Cohen. Sofia is determined to find her (or at least, her story).
A Starry Night will be criticized for Sofia’s inexplicable obsession with Sarah. Why would a teenage girl, faced with graduation and career decisions, enmeshed in a real (as well as social) network of friends, abruptly prioritize the quest for a person likely dead and long forgotten?
The screenplay won’t answer that to everyone’s satisfaction. Perhaps encountering that photo is a little like love at first sight, a flash of emotional recognition?
Sofia’s search brings her to Rome’s Jewish community, whose existence she scarcely suspected. Her school friends and several newly made Jewish friends led by Ruben team up to find the missing Sarah. Their journey leads to the convent where Sarah was sheltered and to a stage play they compose to tell her story. Will romance spark between Sofia and Ruben? Will adults on both sides of the ethno-religious divide, shaped by centuries of mutual distrust, put barriers in the kids’ path?
A Starry Night Above the Roman Ghetto is a delightful movie, well made and with believable acting from the largely youthful cast. It’s the opening selection in this year’s Milwaukee Jewish Film Festival, screening 7 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 17 at the Marcus North Shore Cinemas (but available through Oct. 20 on Eventive).
For more information, visit jccmilwaukee.org.
