To Live in Peace (1947)

 Luigi Zampa's "To Live in Peace"


Luigi Zampa's 1947 Italian neo-realist film "To Live in Peace" is a comedy-drama war film that centers on a family attempting to shelter and hide two American soldiers during the end of the Second World War. The family just want "to live in peace," as per the film's title, and want nothing to do with the war. But, the war comes to them and forces them into precarious situations where they must act regardless. Although the film has a lot of emotion, there is plenty of comedy in the film. Particularly, the scene in which the German and American soldier get drunk and parade the streets screaming that the war is over. These comedic parts were not as interesting to me and felt like more of a detractor from the heart of the story. Otherwise, I very much enjoyed this film and felt it was a nice entry into the new bucket of Italian films emerging from the post-war era. It is a bit of a smaller film and not as mighty as some of the other Italian flicks at the time, but it still holds its own and manages to be funny, emotional, and relevant to its time period.



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