Le train des enfants

The Italians are brilliant at creating gems like this. Beautiful stories, top-class performers and wonderful musical scores.

Over the years we have seen films that dealt with the evacuation of English children from London and other cities to the countryside due to the aerial bombings during WW2. However, I was certainly not aware of this particular piece of history that, after WW2, saw 70,000 children from the South of Italy sent up North for a different reason, to avoid poverty and the terrible conditions they were living in. This film, set in those sad times, provides us with an insight of what it must have been like for the families.

Inevitably, tissues will be required at times and the gentle, haunting score by legendary Italian composer Nicola Piovani (who won an Oscar for "La Vita è Bella") enhances the entire production.

Strangely, the music credit (at the time of writing) is not shown on IMDB, or at least not in its usual position on the list.

Having watched this production you will likely be inspired, like me, to do some further research into this period of Italian history.

When you can't give your children a better future sometimes it's better to let others do that. That is not the parents place to decide but the child. The worst thing that can happen a child is not starvation but rejection. In many places a mothers love is a luxury and children are mistakes that happens. This movie is extremely good just showing that. It's not judgmental but fair with both the mother and the foster home. The acting of the children is extraordinary. The makeup and the locations take you on a journey into to the postwar era and how people managed to survive in such conditions. A very compelling filmic experience.

Italian director Cristina Comencini delivers a beautiful film about a mother's love and the innocence of being a child in an emotional and natural tone of a story that marked hundreds of lives in the midst of World War II .

Netflix allows us to enjoy this beautiful film based on the novel by Viola Ardone and that transports us to the beautiful story of Amerigo who in his innocence and in his love takes us through a story full of beautiful moments that unfortunately become too short. The delicate direction of Cristina Comencini captivates us with that delicacy of providing beautiful shots and a raw portrait, but always seen from the innocence of children, which allows us to have a film always with a hopeful tone. We are in the middle of a war, but both its script and its direction in a calculated way make you feel that it is present, but they never leave aside the true center of paying homage to all those children who had to leave their mothers to find love with another new family.

The film is intelligent because among its wonderful photography and its music it hides captivating performances by Serena Rossi and Barbara Ronchi, two lonely mothers filled with love for Amerigo, played in an exciting way by Christian Cervone, who with his charisma and tenderness carries on his shoulders a story full of emotions in all aspects.

On this occasion we are faced with a work that reminds us how sometimes linearity and simplicity work to captivate that necessary fiber in the spectator. It is a classic proposal, but with determination, it is a journey along two paths, the first the innocence of childhood and the second motherhood in two looks that show us that loving is also letting go and wanting is also knowing how to understand.

A beautiful film with all the blood and Italian love that once again brings us a great director, behind the camera and an emotional tribute to all those who grew up and adapted to this train of hope.

This was a wonderful Italian film based on the title novel, and it truly captured the loneliness and love felt for those children sent to new families during the war. Amerigo is one such example, and his character development was lovely to see. It was hard to see what war would have been like to those affected. The children aren't spoken of as much, so this film hits spot on. The filming was beautifully done, as well as the soundtrack. It combined with the story of losing a child so that they can be loved and taken care of will truly make you cry. Be prepared for the ending, for it sums up the whole story in an emotional and profound way.

During this melodrama.between the child Amerigo and her mother I had several times tears in my eyes. It's a heartbreaking true story and told in a very magnificent way. The atmosphere from after war in the 40ies and the costumes were well done. The places in Naples were wonderfully filmed. Especially Amerigo played by top shooting and coming star Christian Cervone was the best actor in my opinion. It was amazing and sentimental in the same, similar to the great success Cinema Paradiso or Il Postino. Then, the director Comencini made an emotional blockbuster that will have a great success on Netflix and on the international film festivals. It deserves an 8/10 for this original movie proving that nowadays it is still possible to create quality films on higher levels. Watch it.