Movie # 91........................."The Assisi Underground"

Movie #91 "The Assisi Underground" was recommended to me from the guide in Italy that took us through Assisi. While talking about that beautiful church that has the lower and upper basilica, he mentioned that hundreds of Jews were saved hiding in the middle of the church during WWII, and in fact, some of the stone on the ground outside was donated to Assisi in appreciation for what the catholic church did to save the jews in the area. That was intriguing to me that catholics (priests and nuns, no less) were saving jews in their church under the eyes of the german occupation. And I had never heard the story, and the guide said, "Well, you have seen the movie 'Assisi Underground' haven't you?" And I had never heard of it (me, who knows most of the old movies, and esp. ones on the holocaust) so you better believe when I got home from our trip, I went to netflix to see if they had it, and I was disappointed that they didn't. But my brother, who can find anything, found it from a distant library and had it shipped to me so Dave and I could see it. And I'm so glad we did. I LOVED the story (I wrote my own "netflixy" blurb below)and the only flaw I could see was in the acting, esp. by the lead guy (Ben Cross) --- he was a tad hammy. Otherwise, Dave and I found it quite educational and enjoyable. I don't think it would help to recommend it since it is a tough film to see, but if you ever come across it, I'd see it. And know that there is a story out there about that beautiful St. Francis of Assisi church that helped several jews during WWII.

"The Assisi Underground" 1985, directed by Alexander Rumati (from a book that I found on Amazon.com) by Alexander Ramati.
This film sheds light on the role of the Catholic Church and the people of Assisi in rescuing Italian Jews from the Nazis in 1943 especially a priest (played by Ben Cross) , a local printing press guy (who can fake identification papers) and the bishop in the area (played by James Mason) . Who steals the show, though, is Maximillian Schell who plays a Catholic German soldier who is in charge of the occupation, but who is also very sympathetic to the cause of humanity. Well done. I give it 4 stars!