Giovanna Mezzogiorno as "Giovanna"
and Filippo Nigro as "Filippo" in
Ferzan Ozpetek's "Facing Windows"
In an awartt, inning m,
-rector opens
MICHAEL FOX
Special to the Jewish News
T
he trailer for the Italian film Facing Windows implies that audiences
are in for a delectable, heartwarming romance between neighbors
with an urge to concoct fabulous cakes.
It's one of the most misleading promos in movie history. It offers no hint
that Ferzan Ozpetek's tour de force about a bickering young married couple
and the elderly amnesiac who wanders into their lives is • a thoughtful, com-
passionate evocation of the Holocaust in a contemporary Roman setting. The
film opens today in a weekend run at the Detroit Film Theatre.
Winner of di Donatello Awards (Italy's Oscar) for Best Picture, Best Actress
and Best Actor, Facing Windows artfully exposes the role that Italians played
in the Nazi roundup of Rome's Jews while honoring with great delicacy the
still-lingering pain of survivors' guilt. The way gay couples had to keep their
love secret half a century ago is another element of the story.
These are not the sorts of themes that lure the Saturday-night date crowd
— hence Sony Pictures Classics' sugarcoated marketing strategy. But Ozpetek
is amused rather than offended by his U.S. distributor's approach as it pre-
pares to open the film around the country.
"This is really great because the person goes into the movie and then there •
they are, they're caught in it," he enthuses. "That's cool."
4A7
't," 41 it irte -
Ozpetek's confidence in his movie's ability to win over unsuspecting movie-
goers is born from its mainstream success in Italy last year. More importantly,
he relishes the prospect of raising awareness of the Holocaust among those
with little knowledge or curiosity.
"I wanted- to touch on a topic which I'm very angry about," the voluble
Ozpetek declared through a translator when he visited San Francisco earlier
this summer. "Young people --- because I think it's young people who con-
tinue to paint.this Nazi cross all over the place — think the Holocaust is fic-
tion. I think- that's very outrageous."
The Turkish-born Ozpetek came to Rome 25 years ago to attend university
•
and stayed after he graduated.
Facing Windows marks his fourth film, and along with his previous effort,
His Secret Life, has elevated him to international prominence.
The process of researching this film was one of unexpected discovery,
Ozpetek confided. For example, his residence has•a small room that can only _
be entered by bending over.
"When I bought that apartment years ago, my neighbors told me that it
was a hiding place for dissidents, anti-fascists, during the Second World War,
and the owner used to hide them.
"I thought it was the partisans. But as I was writing the script, an old lady
who lives in the building told me, 'You know about the Jewish gentleman
on page 4 2
TOUR DE FORCE
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8/13
2004
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