Himmel über den Sümpfen

I had never heard of this before its recent screening on late-night Italian TV but, checking up on HEAVEN OVER THE MARSHES (the original title's literal translation) on the 'Net, I realized that it was the recipient of a couple of Venice Film Festival prizes – thus worth viewing in my book. As had been the case with THE STORY OF JACOB AND Joseph (1974; TV) – a viewing of which preceded this one – the life story of the child Saint Maria Goretti, who was canonized for upholding her virginity at the cost of her own life, was a staple during religious doctrine classes while I was growing up. The basic plot involving simple country folk (typically played, for the most part, by non-professionals and, consequently, restricted pretty much to stereotypes) lent itself to the rigorous "Neo-Realism" style then fashionable in Italy. Even so, the film – obviously laden with melodramatic situations but, in keeping with the theme and the approach, also displaying great feeling for its pastoral setting – is uncommonly stretched to 109 minutes (so that the second half virtually presents a relentless succession of attempts upon the girl's virtue!). For the record, I recently acquired another little-known but similarly well-regarded effort from director Genina i.e. the WWII movie BENGASI (1942) which, needless to say, takes a pro-Fascist stance.

The title CIELO SULLA PALUDE translates roughly as "Sky Over the Marshland." Augusto Genina's film is a little-known masterpiece of the Italian cinema, made in that same era that gave us THE BICYCLE THIEF, LA TERRA TREMA, and PAISAN. It is sad that this movie was practically never released in the United States and is not available on video/DVD here. It did get some sporadic play in a dubbed version entitled "The Life of Maria Goretti" with some footage highlighting the canonization of Maria Goretti added for showings in some places. Video copies are readily available in Italy, where the movie was often shown to groups of school children to promote the concept of "purity." New York's Museum of Modern Art owns a subtitled 35mm print.

For those unfamiliar with Maria Goretti, she was a girl who rejected the sexual advances of a boy, Alessandro who shared a farm dwelling with her family after the death of her father, and, because of her refusal to satisfy the boy's desires...which she barely even understood, was stabbed by him and died soon afterwards. Maria was made a saint by the Catholic church in 1948. Although not shown in the film, Alessandro, subsequently repented and went into the religious life. The movie delineates how the young girl's religious fervor and joy in life, despite a harsh existence and the death of her father, never lost her spirit of love and forgiveness, even after the terrifying assault on her. It is a mistake to think of this movie as just another exercise in didactic Catholic pietism. It is much more than that, as is Rossellini's FLOWERS OF SAINT FRANCIS. It is, indeed , a powerful portrayal of the hard lives of peasant farmers in a harsh an unforgiving environment, that of the paludal malaria-ridden marsh lands that existed to the south of Rome...and of the innocent transcendent spirit of true love of this marsh daughter, Maria.

The young Ines Orsini gives Maria that aura of innocence and joy that go far in making the film truly work. The film is exquisitely photographed in blacks and whites in beautifully composed images of stark contrast, and the look alone of this film is nothing short of mesmerizing. G.R. Aldo, the director of photography, was one of Italy's greatest cinematographers, and he had been responsible a year earlier for the stunning visuals of LA TERRA TREMA by Luchino Visconti. Viewers familiar with the earlier film will no doubt connect the photographic similarities reflecting the starkness of the two environments, i.e. the marshes of CIELO and the basalt rock formations in the ocean off Sicily's Aci Trezza in TERRA. This is a film, in short, to seek out and, once seen, to admire for many different reasons.

A bit of very interesting trivia: in the 2003 French-Canadian film THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS, the dying main character reflects on a scene from CIELO SULLA PALUDE where Ines Orsini is wading in the ocean and her legs are uncovered. For the character in the Denys Arcand film, it was an arousing erotic moment. And it was so too for the unhealthily obsessive Alessandro in real life and in the Genina's memorable movie based on those events.

It is one of the best Christian movies ever done ,in Italian neorealism ,along with Rossellini' s "Europe 51" .But this one is based on a true story ,and unlike Rossellini's work ,takes place in a destitute world.

The depiction of the large family plagued by poverty ,malaria ,whose only thing they own is their soul,is deeply moving. In those times hard on the poor , a wealthy countess takes pity on them and they are hired on her farm .The elder daughter , Maria ,has a moving relationship with her dad who promises her pie in the sky ;after his death, no man will come between her and a boy eaten with desire .And she is nurtured in a milieu where man dominates .

Ines Orsini 's beaming face and overall performance is close to perfect ; in spite of a stodgy seedy Sunday school where the pupils learn by heart sentences they often do not understand ,Maria's faith survives this hard teaching : to go to school ,she has a long way to go ,across the swamp : cinematographically ,these sequences are the summit of the movie : the girl, rowing her boat through the trees , in the dim light of dawn , is superbly filmed .One almost expects a divine apparition (like Bernadette de Lourdes,in France )

The rise of Alessandro's desire is subtly depicted: first it might be a romantic story down by the sea ,which the seashell may suggest :but as soon as Maria returns from the sea , she lifts a little her dress,and the boy's eyes are fixed on her legs;from that moment on, the boy sees her as a prey,a sexual object ; he's a bestial human being who salivates like a Pavlov's dog .The steward's son, he represents the Devil who can prevent her from meeting again her late dad in Heaven .

The splendor of the black and white pictures , the excellence of the performances (Inès Orsini ,but also Mauro Mattuci and Giovanni Martella),make "ciello sulla palude" a movie which can appeal even to non-believers.