In Italy, immediately subsequent to the war, a group of people who lost all they possessed during the conflict, settle in a village in ruins. They intend to restore the city from the rubble and re-start life, in imitation of the women of Messina who rebuilt their city, destroyed as it was by an earthquake. Oscillating between respect and suspicion, co-existence between group members is tense. Things become complicated when an envoy from the government arrives to say that nothing there belongs to them. The film is a free adaptation of fragments of the novella ‘The Women of Messina’, by Sicilian writer Elio Vittorini.
Giralda Adorno
En la Italia de la inmediata posguerra, un grupo de gente que ha perdido todo lo que poseía durante el conflicto, sobrevive en un pueblo en ruinas. Tratan de levantar la ciudad de las ruinas y reiniciar su vida, a imitación de las mujeres de Messina que reconstruyeron la ciudad, devastada por un terremoto. Oscilando entre el respeto y la sospecha, la coexistencia entre los miembros del grupo es tensa. Las cosas se complican cuando un eviado del gobierno llega para decirles que nada de lo que tienen les pertenece. La película es una libre adaptación de fragmentos de la novela Las mujeres de Messina, del escritor siciliano Elio Vitorini.
Giralda Adorno
A group of men and women have been brought together after World War II, when Italy regained its national and territorial unity. They make up a primitive community which seeks to erase not only the distress created by the war but also the hardships of life, and look to protect themselves from violence, misery and fear. Amid the ruins of this post-war period, these men and women build a new rapport between themselves, between sexes, between generations, between social and geographical origins, between political camps.
