City of pain
Mario Bonnard
1948 / 106' / Italy
The story
According to the Paris Peace Treaty in 1947, Istrian Pula belonged to Yugoslavia. The vast majority of Italians living there begin to leave the city, although the Yugoslav authorities try to keep as many of them as possible by flattery. A young worker, Berto, gets caught in a net and, despite the pleas of his wife, who is worried about the future of their son, decides to go to Yugoslavia, hoping to become the owner of the workshop where he works. But he soon bitterly regrets the decision he made. The machines are confiscated by the Yugoslav government and the town, which soon becomes half-empty, no longer offers good opportunities for earning money. Thanks to the intervention of a Yugoslav official of the Communist Party, Bert manages to get his wife and child, who needs treatment, to Trieste. Life is getting harder and the socialist paradise is becoming a real hell for the main character. He opposes the regime, so he is arrested and sent to a concentration camp, from which Bert manages to escape. Wandering, he reaches the shore, where he finds a boat. He quickly rows towards the Italian coast, but his hope is extinguished by a burst of Yugoslav machine guns...