Sidney Sibilia’s film, L’incredibile storia dell’Isola delle Rose, 2020. As this film shows, there are people whose imagination extends much further than that of ordinary people, such was the hero of this film Giorgio Rosa (Elio Germano). He was such an engineer-fantasy a little out of this world, who constantly invented something, not caring at all about how his fantasies fit into reality, so often this led him to all sorts of trouble. One day, a commercial led him to create his own island on the basis of a platform that would simply have to be installed outside the territorial waters of Italy and proclaim its own state. He found a like-minded person in the person of a friend at the university, Maurizio Orlandini (Leonardo Lidi), who had money, which he brazenly stole from the safe of his father, at whose enterprise he worked, and they took up business. The guys were purposeful and put their idea into practice, built a platform of 400 sq.m. in, took this work for almost 10 years. In the end, a small team was formed, they were joined by several people, one of whom was a passport-free German, who worked in some club on the shore, organizing various events there, the same he did on the island, in 1967 the island was opened to visitors, although construction work was still ongoing there. Things went uphill, in the summer there was no break from tourists, money flowed by the river. At first, the authorities did not pay much attention to this story, but furthermore, on May 1, 1968, they decided to declare the independence of the island under the presidency of Giorgio Rosa, and also formed a government, they even managed to issue their stamps and money, Esperanto was declared the state language. But they decided to formalize everything, so they sent a request to the UN, from there, of course, they were kicked out, at the same time informing the Italian government, after which they began to have serious problems and troubles. Then Rosa turned to the EU, where, oddly enough, their application was accepted for consideration, however, Rosa had to urgently return to Italy without waiting for consideration. And after a while, the government carried out its threats to the end, destroying the island. As I realized after reading the whole story, the film was somewhat shortened and embellished, in fact, the events developed a little differently, but the result was the same. The island ceased to exist. But this story has not been forgotten, a lot has been written about it, remembered to this day. I can’t say that the film is outstanding, but quite watchable, the story, of course, is very fantastic, it was necessary to think about it.
An Italian engineer who had a fight with his ex decided to create his own world. Using his engineering skills, he figured out how to build an artificial island in neutral waters near Italy. That’s how I would describe this film, and now I’ll tell you more. The cool thing about this film is that it's based on real events that happened in 1967 in Italy, you just think, one engineer decided to create his own free country, it's just wow. First it caught the attention of local partygoers, and then the UN, and these are not children's toys. But the Italian government did not like it.
Pros:
1) For an ordinary passerby on Netflix, the film is incredibly beautiful.
2) Some jokes caused hysterical laughter that I even had to pause the film to laugh.
(3) The film is based on real events, which is always interesting.
(4) The film lasts almost two hours, but I never got bored, each scene is very interesting.
(5) The film feels the atmosphere of “Rock Wave” 2009, which gives the mood to the film.
Cons:
1) Although not to say that this is a downside, but the computer graphics in this film very much sags in quality. It seems to be the year 2020 of release, but seemingly ordinary futages from the Internet.
2) The film is about Italians and Italians themselves do not gesture in the film. Have you ever seen an Italian who doesn’t gesture? “If you tie your hands behind your back, you can’t talk.”
The film is interesting and very beautiful, I strongly recommend watching.
Do you have a dream? I bet you do. Are you willing to sacrifice much for her? Can you lose everything but gain something more? You may not respond, retaining the right to remain silent. But the main character of the film cannot be silent, and therefore says that he is "capable!". Against all odds, he fights to the last for his ideals, his principles and his freedom, which they are trying to take away from him. Don’t think wrong: I’m not talking about civil freedom, but about spiritual, inner freedom, when no one is your master, because you’re a cat that walks by itself. And this “childish” desire for independence creates a conflict of interests between the individual and the state (or, more simply, the child and the parent). If you're good, you'll get candy, and if you're bad, you'll stand in the corner. Our hero is one of the “bad ones” because he avoids punishment, not by good behavior, but by changing the rules of the game. You can say that the main character is a cheater, only in real life. And such an adventure puts parental (read state) control under a very big doubt: whether the child (read citizen) should fulfill the requirements imposed on him, if he does not like them and he is able to easily circumvent them. And in order for it to look like a game, it is necessary to thoroughly ridicule all attempts of “adults” to seem stronger and smarter, so the humor in the film works for “hurrah!”. It is only a shame that the state is shown to be extremely untenable and more like a child than the child himself is: it resents and blows its lips, because it can do nothing about the current situation and only stomps its legs with indignation. Another problem for me was that in the tape a lot happens literally at the click of a finger. However, if we consider it as a child’s play, then, as we know, it is always more pleasant to have fun than to work. Therefore, the heroes are more interested not in the time-consuming process of their activities, but in its result.
If we talk about the technical side of the film, then, alas, everything is not so smooth. Netflix is known for its outstanding special effects, so there is nothing else to expect (although the requirements were not high and you could try). The other cornerstone is the cast. As much as I tried to get used to these faces, I failed. The reason for this is on the surface: Netflix. The main character, who is a little over 20 in the film, in my opinion, is played by a 40-year-old. It's just a failure. And perhaps the biggest disappointment that influenced my final assessment decision was music. She's totally out of character in the movie. The main function of music is to evoke emotions in the viewer that would not exist without it. Put simply: push. And I can say with confidence that in this particular film, she did not cope with the task at all.
So it turns out that the extremely promising idea, which gave life itself (and the film is based on real events), was severely crippled and is in a state of artificial coma. To summarize, the film is a naive story of the naive love of a naive dreamer. And who knows, maybe this is the plot of our life, with only one caveat: the filmed Netflix.
7 out of 10
As it turned out, the film is based on real events.
A young Italian engineer from the beautiful city of Bologna, with the help of his friend, took and built an island of steel of 400 m2 in neutral waters. He declared it a place of freedom. Immediately they were joined by a talented German promoter, a specialist in the arrangement of beach discos. And naturally, the platform island has turned into a noisy dance ground for those who want to go around the world. But the Italian authorities did not like it very much, and the shelter of freedom was undermined. It is, in short.
Personally, the film showed me that a dream is not just a picture in the imagination, but an image that with some effort can take on dense forms.
A very good film and a completely unusual and touching story about Dream and Freedom. Of course, this is so typical that youth and creativity are confronted and envied by a tedious old age in a gray suit and glasses that has a bunch of aircraft carriers, paratroopers and cannons. It seems that destroying an island created on water is the same as destroying a dream, but it is not. Life goes on, love goes on. The island is destroyed, but its creator is not broken, because the Inner Island is impossible to destroy - just like all our dreams. They belong only to us.
An exciting and moderately funny film about an entertaining socio-political experiment in the heyday of the hippie movement. But for some reason, the plot or dialogue does not mention (or did I miss?) a similar story about the Principality of Seeland, which began in the same 1967. True, the platform for the "principality" was not built (it was an abandoned British platform in international waters), but the analogy can be traced.
What to do if everything in life is so tired that there is no more strength to look at the surrounding mess? Building your own state. This is exactly what Italian architect Giorgio Rosa did.
In the sea, 11 kilometers from the city of Rimini, he built a platform called the Republic of the Rose Island. Giorgio himself became president. The island began to grant citizenship to everyone. On the platform opened a restaurant, club, bar and even mail.
Tourists went to Giorgio - in 1967, crazy ideas were still a curiosity. The government of Italy was angry with the new state. Police arrived on the platform and destroyed the republic. This outraged the residents of Rimini so much that they even wrote a telegram to the president condemning the government’s actions.
In 2020, the Italians made the film The Incredible Story of Rose Island. The story here, of course, is highly embellished and dramatized. However, it is one of the best films that Italians have released in recent years. This is not a comedy, but at the same time, there is no special tragedy. The film shows the entire history of the island - from its inception to the very end.
Like any country, Rose Island suffers from financial crises, governance crises and foreign policy failures. In fact, from the very beginning it is clear - despite the fact that one of the inhabitants of the island becomes a professional military, and the president has put his whole soul into the platform - the new state is doomed.
In the film, the director shows that although ridiculous ideas can be implemented, it makes no sense to go against the state machine - because they have much more military and even have a huge ship. By the way, the ship is an exaggeration - the platform was actually just blown up.
The engineer hoped that due to the fact that the island is outside the territorial waters of Italy, it will not be touched. The government decided otherwise.
In fact, at the end of the film, Giorgio doesn't look too upset. His state may have lasted only two months, but during those two months he had a nice time with his friends. And, in general, how many people in the world who founded their own countries?
Giorgio lived to be 92 and died in 2017. He gave the go-ahead for the film adaptation, but, unfortunately, the film did not wait. They say that in Rimini, many still remember about this platform, and now thanks to the film, the whole world will learn about it.
It’s a good movie, not a sad movie at all, but rather a show of how you can make your dream come true if you get to the right time and place. Let this dream last for a short time.
By the way, there is a Principality of Sealand, which, coincidentally, was also created in 1967. Sealand is located off the coast of the UK, on a platform, and even receives tourists. The Principality survived a fire, a coup d’état and issued passports. Unlike the Rose Island Republic, Sealand still exists today, and the British seem to be more tolerant than the Italians.
39 The Incredible History of the Island of Roses 39 is a very light, pleasant and inspiring Italian melodramatic story, which by all criteria resembles the classical format of French good comedies with a taste of romance.
In addition, if you were impressed by the Italian beauty Matilda De Angelis, brightly flashed in the recent series ' Play Back' then here she already has a full-fledged supporting role with all the necessary events for empathy.
At first glance, the plot of the film will seem excessively funny, implausible and even fantastically stupid, but the most amazing thing is that everything that happens in the film was actually - and this is a historical fact. At the end of the film, the viewer is waiting for a documentary selection of photos of real events.
As part of the production, the picture is perceived as a kind of fairy tale about the funny adventures of a eccentric inventor in the world of evil adults who, in fact, if you look closely, also did not go far from childhood. The images of the characters are caricatured, humorous dialogues, the atmosphere is bright and very inspired by good deeds, so that after watching it on the soul it will be joyful and good. In general, if you need a simple cheerful movie about dreams, friends and first love, then a pleasant viewing.