This rarely seen film is by Italian director Sergio Rossi, for whom it is the third and final directorial work, the two previous ones having come out in 1971 and 1989. Unless some of his credits are unknown to IMDb, the long gaps in his filmography could relay that he is an auteur who takes a long while to prepare for his next major work. Then again, as this film looks fairly cheap, it can also be that Mr. Rossi needs the time to get the financing right.
Anyways, this is a historical film that depicts Italy in the early 1950's, a fascinating time in the country's history. Lidia (Antonella Ponziani) works as a stenographer in a factory, in the north-western city of Turin. She is a communist, as was her husband, who died as a partisan in the war. Lydia has a daughter named Anna (Tresy Taddei), whose childhood is considerably different from that of other girls, because her mother is a despised red, and unlike other Italian families, they do not believe in God. The film has two core stories. Anna's childhood, and her attempt to get a precious medal that the teacher rewards to the best student, as well as Lidia's romance with her boss, played by Franco Nero.
It's an outsider narrative, but also one aiming for nostalgia points. As was the case in a more famous Italian picture from that very year, the child who we see in the film works as the film's grown-up narrator. Like Benigni's more enjoyable effort, this film too tries to depict the hard times for the common people, but it's frustratingly forgettable in this mission. None of the characters are the least bit interesting, and the plot-lines don't really capture the attention. The screenplay does not have much to say about the treatment of political minorities, or second marriages in catholic societies, nor childhood in poverty.
What makes it worse it the downright ugly color landscape of the film. Everything is gray and bleak, not a single shot stands out as pleasant for the eyes. The shoestring budget is visible in the fact, that most of the outdoor scenes are shot with close-ups of the characters, since creating the proper time period is a costly matter, and apparently the film couldn't afford much extras either.
Italian cinema has better films about childhood ("Amarcord") as well as the country's political history ("We All Loved Each Other So Much"). For me, this was a bummer film to kick off 2020's with.
