nmegahey It's a bit of a challenge to take on and get across the full impact of the Marzabotto massacre, the worst war-time atrocity committed in Italy during WWII, and director Giorgio Diritti takes a bit of a risk in L'uomo che verrà (The Man who will Come) by viewing events from the perspective of an 8 year old girl. The approach however neither shies away from the very real horror of the events of September 1944 nor sentimentalises them, but presents the story in a shockingly realistic and matter-of-fact way.Life in the Monte Sole region of Italy, in the mountains south of Bologna, is difficult enough for the inhabitants of the small farming community in the winter of 1943. The work is hard, the people live in poverty and are put under further strain by the taxes and regulations of the fascist government. The pact between Mussolini and Hitler however has just broken down and the German troops who patrol the region have suddenly become a more threatening presence.For the first half of the film we only get a sense of this from the perspective of Martina, an 8 year old girl. Unaware of what is really going on, her view is one of an innocent gradually coming to an awareness of the nature of the world. No longer speaking since the death of her baby brother, Martina is a silent witness to the world around her, to the struggle to survive. Most of her experiences are typical of childhood; she's bullied at school, is gradually becoming aware of what goes on between men and women, and is looking forward to her mother giving birth to a new baby.On the other hand, Martina also experiences horrors no child should ever be expected to witness. She sees German troops ambushed and prisoners being executed in the woods, hears the bombardment of Bologna, and experiences first-hand the events of the 28th and 29th September 1944 when she is rounded up with the other villagers by a Waffen SS unit. Accused of sheltering the Partisan units hiding out in the woods who have been attacking their patrols, the SS brutally execute around 770 citizens of Marzabotto; men, women and children alike.This horrifying true-life event is filmed by director Giorgio Diritti without sentimentality and without exaggeration and it's all the more shocking for it. Despite the necessity of having to create a fictional family and present a child-like narrative viewpoint as a way to navigate through the events, L'uomo che verrà nonetheless is unmanipulative and has an authentic feel for the period, the poverty and the hardship experienced, sparing the viewer little of the horror of what really happened in the region in 1944. L'uomo che verrà won the Best Film award in Italy's 2010 David di Donatello awards.

BaronVonCount This movie is mostly seen through the eyes of the young girl, Martina, who along with the other children provides a depth of innocence which is the counterpoint to the ice-cold brutality of an invading army. The various viewpoints and behaviour of the diverse groups: villagers - old and young; partisans living in the woods;the clergy; the invading forces with their various levels of humanity from ruthless soldiers whose souls are dead to those who can't help but feel compassion for the people they are invading, never seem clichéd even though they may be in so many war movies. This is simply humanity at war, portrayed clearly and credibly without the slightest pretence. The cinematography, direction and acting are supremely natural, creating a fine, memorable movie.

sfviewer123 Despite being beautifully shot and well-made (and a few well-done scenes such as the skirmish and execution of a captured German soldier) this one's pretty much a dud...deals with historical events with which most non-Italians are probably not familiar (German atrocities against Italian civilians during the latter half of WWII) but other than cinematically treating a new chapter in that era's history the film doesn't have much to offer, mainly because it uncritically relies on the default narrative/theme for movies on the general subject of WWII in Europe (Germans/Nazis=bad/evil (irrational obsessive homicidal nationalist maniacs), everyone else=good).I guess the size and/or "taste" of the "American" market has to be mentioned as the primary reason many non-American directors find it difficult to make films with moral complexity beyond the imagination of a three-year old? (To give one potential example, (Italian) communist partisans would sometimes ambush German units while the latter were in regions known to be pro-fascist/Mussolini, in the hopes that the Germans were enact reprisals against the local civilians, whom the communists hated as much or more than the Nazis (people often hate those closer to them than those far away)--but would an Italian director dare make such a film? Apparently not.)Edit: To be fair there were a couple of minor details in this direction, such as the SS man who was unable to fire the heavy machine gun and the officer who helped the woman who survived the mass shooting (although that was kind of bizarre itself). But larger themes, such as why was the German presence so bad that the villagers were willing to risk their families to try to get rid of it (all the Germans seemed to do was ask for wine and then pay for it) were lacking. Also the depiction of the Italian civilians was radically naive--were they all really just simple happy country folk who cared only for food, family and Catholicism? Such stereotypes are themselves infantilizing.

Ben Huober I saw "L'uomo che verrà" in a small theater in Florence, Italy last February.One of the beautiful things about the film is that it will appeal to various audiences in very different, albeit powerful ways. It was related to me that the historical events portrayed and implied by the film are quite accurate, so locals from the mountains above Bologna or history buffs won't feel disappointed by an inaccurate rendition. Depending on their demographic other Italians should either be able to sympathize or empathize with characters in the movie as well. For viewers that are not European, I can confidently say that they will find themselves presented with an old theme (Nazi occupation and brutality) delivered in a novel and unique theatrical vessel.Additionally, the cinematography is wonderful. I truly did feel as if I was in the countryside with the characters of the movie being terrorized by a foreign occupying force.As a side note, the movie is in a dialect that most Italians will not even understand. With the good subtitles, I felt that it actually added to the movie's appeal.