Cristiana Comencini's touching film sheds light on an often-forgotten story of the Italian post-war period
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| Image Credit: Netflix |
A few hours ago, Children's Train was available for streaming on Netflix, the highly anticipated Italian historical film directed by Cristina Comencini which quickly conquered the rankings of the most viewed content on the platform. The film is an adaptation of the bestseller of the same name by Viola Ardone and tells a story set in the difficult years of the Italian post-war period when the country was struggling to recover from the consequences of the Second World War. The events begin in 1946 and tell the story of the very young Amerigo (Christian Cervone), a seven-year-old boy who lives in conditions of extreme poverty together with his mother Antonietta (Serena Rossi) in Naples.
His life changes when his mother decides to put him on a train to the north to live with Debra (Barbara Ronchi), a farmer who will take care of him as if he were her own son. Amerigo is still too young to fully understand the difficult decision made by his mother, however in his new home he will experience unexpected happiness, discovering for the first time what it means not to suffer from hunger. The Children's Train sheds light on an often-forgotten story from the immediate post-war period in Italy.
Amerigo's story is in fact identical to that of thousands of other children exhausted by hunger who found themselves forced to emigrate for some time elsewhere in search of more favorable living conditions, thus benefiting from a great solidarity initiative created to give hope to many families affected by the war. The project that went down in history as "The Trains of Happiness" was organized by the UDI (Unione Donne Italiane) and the Italian Communist Party and envisaged the creation of a solidarity enterprise that could reach the most suffering areas of the country.
This also included ensuring that families less affected by the war were available to host children from the affected areas for at least one school year, including those from fascist families. This initiative was naturally subject to the approval of the families of origin to separate from their children for a certain period. The initiative was immediately a great success, with many families from regions – from Emilia-Romagna to Marche – who said they were available to host the children. The transfers, which involved more than 70,000 children, were organized with great expenditure of railway means, with the convoys quickly becoming known as “Children’s Trains”.
The film was directed by Cristina Comencini, who also wrote the screenplay in collaboration with Furio Andreotti, Giulia Calenda, and Camille Dugay. The cast also includes Barbara Ronchi, Serena Rossi, Christian Cervone, and Stefano Accorsi. They are joined by Giorgia Arena, Francesco Di Leva, Antonia Truppo, Beatrice Schiros, Monica Nappo, Nunzia Schiano and Mariarosaria Mingione.
The Children's Train is currently available for streaming on Netflix.
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