La Notte di San Lorenzo (Night of the Shooting Stars) (The Night of San Lorenzo)

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Alain E @AlainE Oct 27, 2025 A panorama of the last chaotic days of the Fascist regime in Italy. Examining the effects on citizens of every age from elementary school children to early old age. The movie starts deceptively enough with a delayed wedding, the bride being in advanced pregnancy. Soon the sentiment changes as the population is anticipating destruction of buildings by the retreating Germans and this is followed by scenes of meaningless brutal civil war. See more S R @ScottR Feb 17, 2018 1001 movies to see before you die. Another lost Flixster rating. It was on Tubi. See more Jan 4, 2016 [recently screened at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, January 2, 2016]. Too late to be a neorealist film, and too early and too 80's to be as stark as anything by Matteo Garrone (Gamorrah, 2008), this is a nostalgic tale of a band of Italian peasants fleeing and resisting fascism in 1944. That they await the Americans makes you wonder if any US-interested parties had some skin in the production game. It's not that the film is necessarily bad, as much as it has no felt electrical charge. You can skip this one. See more Sep 17, 2014 Poetic italian drama with several winks to Fellini about the resilence and hope of the denizens of a tuscan village.No waste See more Jun 4, 2014 Since the overwhelming masterpiece <i>Allonsanfàn</i> (1974), the underrated Taviani brothers began to acquire international reputation from critics and film festivals alike in a positively increasing trend, including Cannes. However, along with this trend, their stories somehow began to become simpler as well. That is not necessarily a bad thing given the quality of their films, but the auteur signature began to become lost gradually. In simplicity lies complexity, a fact that sensitive people seem to comprehend. The premise of the plot, as stated before, is simple. The complexity lies in its layers of humanity, and this retelling of the "night of San Lorenzo, the night in which dreams come true", makes a fascinating contrast between contradictory themes: family, war, human tragedies, the futility of violence, sexual innocence, the Catholics and the Fascists, the old and the young ones... The way Italian cinema addresses family bonds and nostalgic autobiographical stamps throughout, which give hints of the past of the filmmakers, is something unparalleled. That has been their expertise, and remains to be today. Such emphasis on what defines us as "human" from both the positive and the negative connotations is so moving and thought-provoking, that their constant blasts of sexuality, implicit or graphic, can be forgiven, even if they contribute to the plot or the characters around 65% of the times. A very recommended viewing from the Taviani brothers who were still satisfying the expectations of Cannes, <i>The Night of San Lorenzo</i> treats war with an enthusiasm humanly impossible to have during such tumultuous times, with an enchanting perspective that borders on fantasy, sometimes satirical, even if doubtfully comedic during a few segments, which delivers what it promises. 86/100 See more Feb 6, 2013 The unbearable lightness of human barbarity. Great film! See more Read all reviews

La Notte di San Lorenzo (Night of the Shooting Stars) (The Night of San Lorenzo)

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