Red Land (Rosso Istria)

The massacre of italian defenseless civilians perpetrated by Yugoslav partisans in Istria during the last years of WWII and immediately thereafter is a proven historical fact. Unfortunately, the political climate in Italy after the war caused a widespread removal of any mention to all the atrocities that weren't accomplished by fascists. This aberration survives still, to the point that it influenced negatively the distribution of this movie in the italian theaters, due to the fear that extremists might cause disorders and damages. Those who negate the Istrian atrocities are on a par with those who negate the "Shoah" and shouldn't be allowed to do so in a public context in any civilized country. That said, the movie does not contain any actual political propaganda, neither in favor of Fascism, nor against Communism: it shows the story of a bunch of men and women in those tragic times. From an artistic point of view I'd say that the movie is very good, even if, IMHO, the aim at aesthetic elegance risks diluting, at times, the dramatic tension.