| Perlasca, un Eroe Italiano | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Alberto Negrin |
| Written by | Enrico Deaglio, Sandro Petraglia |
| Screenplay by | Sandro Petraglia, Stefano Rulli |
| Based on | La banalità del bene - Storia di Giorgio Perlasca by Enrico Deaglio |
| Starring | Luca Zingaretti |
| Music by | Ennio Morricone |
| Cinematography | Stefano Ricciotti |
| Editing by | Antonio Siciliano |
| Studio | Rai Fiction, Focusfilm |
| Release date(s) | January 28, 2002 (Italy) |
| Running time | 126 |
| Country | Italy |
| Language | Italian |
Perlasca, un Eroe Italiano (English: Perlasca, an Italian Hero also known as Perlasca, The Courage of a Just Man) is a 2002 Italian drama about the real-life hero Giorgio Perlasca, who posed as a Spanish ambassador and tricked Nazi officials to save the lives of five thousand Jews during the Holocaust. The Village Voice deemed the first-time account "more courageous than Spielberg."
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During World War II, Perlasca worked at procuring supplies for the Italian Army in the Balkans. In the autumn of 1943, he was appointed as an official delegate of the Italian government with diplomatic status and sent to Eastern Europe with the mission of buying meat for the Italian army. On October 8, the American general Dwight Eisenhower announced the unconditional surrender of Italy to the allied forces thus all Italian citizens became the subject of warrant for caption by the Hungarian Government loyal to Germany. Some of the film’s scenes feature cameos by historical persons these encounters aren't based on fictions but less-known facts, like when Perlasca rescues two children from deportation and certain death right under the nose of Adolf Eichman, “the architect of the Holocaust.” Although it seems like cinematic enhancement, the incident is reported to have actually occurred in fact, under the presence of Raoul Wallenberg. After the war, the real Perlasca returned to his home in Padua and never spoke about his war-time experiences. For forty-five years his deeds remained a secret.
The film starts in a Budapest Hotel with a narrative introduction by Perlasca, which reveals the historical background of the story told. Disturbed by his chambermaid he is warned of the raid of Arrow Cross storm troopers coming up on the stairs to arrest him. He escapes before being caught and manages to get at the railway station where he tries to sneak onto a sheep transport wagon. Discovered by a local officer named Glückmer he is put under arrest but the while being taken away an Ally air strike hits the station allowing Perlasca an opportunity to escape. He arrives to a bourgeois party where he is trying to get in formation from Contessa Eleonora about resistance members ready to help him in leaving the country. Meanwhile another squad of troopers led by captain Bleiber arrive on the scene and arrest some of the party guests but the contessa uses her social rank to elude from the place and sends Perlasca to Professor Balázs who rescues Jews from persecution. Perlasca follows the advise and goes to his clinic where he spends the night but the place is again investigated by Bleiber and his henchman Lieut. Nagy. the Professor evades the clean-up, though the Jews - afraid of being caught the next day - leave the house and subsequently runs into the trap of Bleiber, who is waiting outside and slaughter them with a night raid. Perlasce survives in the confusion with Magda and her daughter Lili. They reach the Spanish Embassy where - thanks to a self-written letter by Francisco Franco - he is granted to speak with the ambassador Sanz Briz. He sends them to a Spanish safe house of Spain's possession thus no Hungarian laws apply in them (out of territory). They are accompanied by a local lawyer working for the embassy. There Perlasca meets some refugees from the clinic as well as Eva and Sándor, a Jewish couple and unifies the opposing Jewish parties within the house. He and the lawyer leave the house for s drink but upon his return he recognizes that the house was indeed cleaned up illegally by the Arrow Cross soldiers. He begins searching for Magda first in the railway station where the fascists has already started to gather and load the Jews to wagons ready to roll out. He confronts Glückmer for the second time who helps him instead of putting him in custody. Perlasca is sent to the SS-Führer of the station who is easy to bribe and thus lets him compile a list of Jews needed by the Spanish Embassy. He cheats with the list and actually calls more people to his truck than it is permitted except Magda, who isn't on the train. He then visits an Arrow Cross Interrogation base, where he finds a lot of executed Jews but saves those few who survived the torture with Magde among them. Returning to the Embassy, Briz tells him that they withdraw from Hungary and cease to operate. This is the point where Perlasca decides to take the role of a so-called consul and to lie to be of Spanish nationality and make others call him "Jorge". He refuses to let the Arrow troopers in and acts as if the Embassy would still functioning thus is a neutral territory. He organizes education, alert duty and supplies within these buildings. He visits Gábor Vajna, the Arrow Cross Interior Minister of Hungary as a consul and claim that the Jews housed by the Spanish are Sephardi Jews. Meanwhile Lt. Nagy collects - according to the local rules - the protected Jews to the streets to dump debris caused by air raids. He attempts to escort the group to the railway station for deportation, but is stopped again by a dispatch reporting Perlasca and Vajna's agreement. Then comes the aforementioned encounter with Adolf Eichman where Perlasca saves the lives of two siblings. He then falsifies 5000 'Schutzbriefs' (protection letters) when he is informed of his own Spanish visa waiting for him at the Hungarian border. He still chooses to stay because Magda's life is in danger. A final raid on the safehouse results in Nagy taking all the Jews (except a dozen of them hiding) to the Danube bank, while Perlasca is attending to a ball where he tries to borrow a train wagon for his protégés to be sent to Switzerland. While running away from the safehouse, Magda's father is shot at sight by a young militiaman, who tries to test him by asking to finish the prayer "Our father, who art in ... ". As being Jewish he can not do so and the soldier yells "Where is our father?" while Sándor responds "I don't know where he is" and is shot immediately.[1] Perlasca and the few remained Jews find shelter at the Professor Balázs' flat. At the Danube river the 1944-45 Danube executions take place and despite recruiting Major Glückmer, Perlasca arrives late to the scene. He only manages to save Eva. Upon hearing the news of a preparation of the elimination of the Budapest ghetto and its inhabitants, he decides to convince the Jewish community to take up arms and to fight if necessary. He also has his final visit at Vajna's office and with a successful bluff he convinces him to let the ghetto stay and thus freed by the Red Army days later. At the finals scenes Cpt. Bleiber is seen hung in the street and Perlasca is leaving the city with the help of Glückmer who was originally ordered to arrest him because of his former fascist affiliations.[2][3]
In Italy the film was cut into two episodes to make it a television film. When the premiere of the second part was broadcasted it attracted 13 million viewers with a 43% share of TV coverage in Italy.[4]
The New York Daily News said: Zingaretti does a fine job shading a character that is written as an unalloyed saint. But the most touching moments come at the end, when we see documentary footage of his true-life inspiration.
TV Guide's Movie Guide: Negrin's film is a well-deserved tribute to a principled man who dared to act when principles no longer counted for anything.
New York Post: A well-made and heart-rending Italian Schindler's List.
Perlasca won Best Actor and the Humanitarian Award at the Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival, and won best TV Movie Telegatto, in Italy.
Other Holocaust dramas based on true stories: