VERMIGLIO – Review by Lynn Venhaus
A sweeping family saga that unfolds at an unhurried pace, writer-director Maura Delpero’s narrative is an intimate look at how a remote mountain village is affected by World War II. The time is 1944, and Vermiglio is nestled in the Italian Alps. Because of its location, the villagers know a war is going on, and some of the sons are in military service, but so far, what’s happening globally has not intruded on their relatively safe haven. That is, until one family’s son, Attilio , injured and shell-shocked, brings home the soldier who saved his life. Pietro is a deserter, from Sicily, and falls in love with Attilio’s sister Lucia. A series of melodramatic events will change the course of nearly everyone’s life, and the family’s struggles reverberate through this isolated territory, especially as it relates to confining traditional, provincial roles.
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