The Night of the Shooting Stars

The Taviani brothers, Paolo and Vittorio, drew on their personal wartime childhood memories to make this lyrical Cannes prizewinner. Over a bright summer night in rural Italy, with U.S. Army liberators closing in, a group of citizens from a small Italian town wander the countryside, trying to avoid retreating Nazi occupiers and their brutal fascist allies. Elevated by hints of magical realism despite its darker themes, THE NIGHT OF THE SHOOTING STARS boasts painterly visuals by ace lensman Franco Di Giacomo, a former Sergio Leone and Bernardo Bertolucci collaborator who later shot IL POSTINO (1994).