When a young boy's family in Nazi occupied Italy is taken in by a small convent, he must hide his Jewish identity, but as he begins questioning the ways of the world, he forms a unique relationship with the Catholic Mother Superior in the strongest untold story in Italian History.
Inspired by true events. The sun rises over a large field, as a small car approaches. Matteo sees a young girl, his first crush, who is fatally shot by a Nazi. Matteo’s mother, Silvia forces his head forward, away from the rear view mirror of life. His brother, Davide, sleeps beside his mom. They pull into a small convent, a large cross looming overhead.
Matteo and Davide, using fake names, join the other boys of the convent school. Mother Superior insists on teaching the course and introduces the two boys as Catholic refugees. Though Davide joins in with the other children, Matteo is hardened. He isolates himself in a corner of the convent, near a hole in the wall to the world.
During bible study, Matteo asks why the bible is so similar to the Torah. At the end of the class, Mother Superior asks him to stay behind. She reprimands his careless question in Nazi-occupied Italy, but as he continues to pose questions, she notices his wisdom beyond his years.
The children on occasion are allowed to run in the fields, but Matteo is plagued with survivor’s guilt. In the distance, he sees the Nazi’s coming. The gestapo measure the boys in search of future Reich recruits.
Meanwhile, Silvia begins getting candles from the young nun she has grown close to and an older nun grows suspicious. Matteo is scared to fall asleep at night because he dreams of running in the fields with the little girl he could have had a life with and remembers his life before. One night he has a nightmare of the Nazi takeover of the Roman Jewish ghetto and his separation from their father. Matteo often sleeps by the hole in the convent’s wall, imagining his father’s arrival at the convent.
Two years pass.
One night, Mother Superior leaves by candlelight. She convenes with neighboring towns, where the churches share their historic pact to continue protecting the Jewish families that each church is harboring. One night, Matteo is sleeping by the wall when his father comes back. They hold hands through the hole. His father is shot in the night. Mother Superior finds Matteo praying in the pews. He shares he will convert. "Will it all be for nothing?” she asks. The boys are awakened by airplanes the next day. The allies have arrived. Freed, Matteo places a flower on the girl’s grave, before walking towards his future.
Actor - Lino Musella
Cinematographer - Elisabetta Fox
Associate Producer - Sabatino Ciatti
