L’uomo che verra (2009)

Directed by: Giorgio Diritti | 114 minutes | drama, war, history | Actors: Maya Sansa, Alba Rohrwacher, Eleonora Mazzoni, Claudio Casadio, Greta Zuccheri Montanari, Vito, Orfeo Orlando, Diego Pagotto, Bernardo Bolognesi, Stefano Croci, Zoello Gilli, Timo Jacobs, Francesco Modugno, Maria Grazia Naldi, Laura Pizzirani, Frank Schmalz , Tom Sommerlatte, Thaddäus Meilinger, Raffaele Zabban, Germano Maccioni, Caterina Basso

Children as silent witnesses to the most horrific events in our history; Italian filmmakers such as Roberto Rossellini and the Taviani brothers have shown in the past how effective this can be. With only one title to his name, the relatively inexperienced director Giorgio Diriti follows in their footsteps with ‘L’uomo que verrà’ (2009), released internationally under the title ‘The Man Who Will Come’. The child in question is eight-year-old Martina (impressive role by young Greta Zuccheri Montanari), a girl who has not spoken since the death of her little brother. She lives in the countryside south of the city of Bologna with her large, colorful family.

When the film starts it is December 1943, Italy is under increasing pressure from the German occupier. The farm of Martina’s family initially functions as a beacon of safety, where people on the run find (temporary) shelter and where the young Italian fighters come together to discuss their plan of attack. ‘L’uomo que verrà’ starts with typical nostalgic Italian family rituals as we also know them from the work of Ermanno Olmi, but in the background the battle flares up. Our heroine Martina seems to realize more than the adults around her suspect, according to an essay she wrote for school. She therefore learns more and more about the struggle between the German occupiers and the partisans, because the war is getting closer and closer to the rural inhabitants. She sees paratroopers landing and she experiences up close how a soldier is forced to dig his own grave.

Since the girl does not speak, we see what this does to her purely by observing her. It doesn’t make it any easier for young Greta Zuccheri Montanari to play the part, but she passes with flying colors. The strongest scenes from the film are the moments when we watch and listen to her with her. It’s a shame that towards the end, when the villagers are cornered by the Nazis, the film has to give up quite a bit of subtlety. Fortunately, Diriti maintains his integrity by turning the camera away in the bloodiest scenes. The film is based on the true story of one of the most horrific pages in Italian history, the Marzabotto massacre, which left nearly 800 dead. It was the worst mass murder of civilians committed by the Waffen-SS in Italy during the war and Diriti underlines this once again in the way he has incorporated the atrocities in his film.

The symbolism in his film – Martina’s new brother could well be the man from the title – and the important role played by the Catholic Church give the film extra depth. Many films have been made about the Second World War, but the massacre of the inhabitants of the village of Marzabotto has always been underexposed. From that point of view alone it is good that ‘L’uomo que verrà’ has been made. The fact that this has also become a very intriguing film, with excellent camera work and a fantastic young lead actress, is a bonus.