One of my friends on a movie site, seeing that I was watching a lot of old Italian films, recommended that I watch Cielo sulla palude (1949), directed by Augusto Jenina. I must say, despite my long-term interest in cinema, including Italian, I have not seen any publications about this director and I have not watched any films about him. And the director turned out to be quite famous, but the time of his greatest success was during the reign of Mussolini, he was even awarded three times at this time the Mussolini Cup at the Venice Film Festival for the best Italian film, it turns out that was then and so.
The film “Heaven over the Swamp”, which is based on the true story of St. Mary Goretti, Jenina shot after a seven-year silence that followed the overthrow of Mussolini and the refusal of the director to cooperate with the new government, so that the film is shot in a kind of Christian spirit, exalting faith and forgiveness.
There's spoilers.
The story told in the film takes place in the early 20th century in places close to the home of the director (he was born and died in Lazio), the heroes are a poor peasant family Goretti with 6 children, arriving in this not very friendly and difficult for peasant labor area in search of work. Already almost convinced that they will be able to get it, they accidentally catch the eye of landowners, who, having experienced some semblance of sympathy, tell the manager to hire them. Arriving at the house where they will live, they encounter a rude drunkard Serenelli, who tries to drive them out, but other peasants stand up for them, so that in the end they stay. It is not easy for them to live there, the work is also very hard, besides malaria is common in this swampy area, which eventually gets sick and from which the father of the family dies. The eldest daughter Maria not only works, but also looks after the youngest child, although she is still a teenager, at the end of her 12 years. But Serenelli’s son Alessandro falls in love with her, at first he tries to induce her to intimacy by ordinary simple methods, but she, realizing what he wants from her, begins to fear him, although at first she trusted him and treated him with sympathy, like everyone else, she is a kind soul and in fact still a child. Eventually, trying to rape her, although she resists with all her might, he kills her. She does not die immediately, in the hospital, even forgives her killer before she dies, but the story becomes widely known, crowds of people flock to the hospital, obsessed with literally religious impulse. She was later canonized and declared a saint. The criminal eventually repented and after 27 years of imprisonment came to the mother of the girl to ask her forgiveness, and after some time he went to the monastery, where he died at the age of 87 years.
The film was shot in the inherent manner and aesthetics of neorealism, ordinary peasants also participated in the filming. Unfortunately, I could not find a version with subtitles or with a decent translation, the translator at first was very annoyed with the timbre of his voice and manner of speaking, but then I got used to it. I will not recommend this film to anyone who is interested in Italian cinema. By the way, this film received several awards, including it was awarded the prize at the Venice Film Festival in 1949 as “the film that made the greatest contribution to the spiritual and moral perfection of mankind” and included in the list of 100 Italian films to be preserved.