Perlasca – Un eroe Italiano
| Perlasca – Un eroe Italiano | |
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| Based on | La banalità del bene – Storia di Giorgio Perlasca by Enrico Deaglio |
| Written by | Enrico Deaglio, Sandro Petraglia |
| Screenplay by | Sandro Petraglia, Stefano Rulli |
| Directed by | Alberto Negrin |
| Starring | Luca Zingaretti |
| Theme music composer | Ennio Morricone |
| Country of origin | Italy |
| Original language(s) | Italian |
| Production | |
| Cinematography | Stefano Ricciotti |
| Editor(s) | Antonio Siciliano |
| Running time | 126 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Rai Fiction, Focusfilm |
| Release | |
| Original release |
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Perlasca – Un eroe Italiano (English: Perlasca, an Italian Hero also known as Perlasca, The Courage of a Just Man) is a 2002 Italian drama, directed by Alberto Negrin, about Giorgio Perlasca, an Italian businessman working in Hungary for his government. After Italy surrendered to the Allies, he took refuge in the Spanish Embassy. Aware of the threat to Jews, he first began to help them find shelter in Spanish safe houses.
After the Spanish ambassador moved to Switzerland, Perlasca posed as the Spanish consul, tricking Nazi officials and saving the lives of more than 5,000 Jews in Hungary in 1944 during the Holocaust. The film was made by Rai Uno and aired as a two-part TV film. The Village Voice deemed this account as "more courageous than Spielberg."
The movie is adapted from the book, La banalità del bene – Storia di Giorgio Perlasca (2002) by Enrico Deaglio, about the achievements of an Italian man in saving Jews in Hungary in 1944. During World War II, Perlasca worked at procuring supplies for the Italian army in the Balkans. In the autumn of 1943, he was appointed as an official delegate of the Italian government with diplomatic status and sent to eastern Europe with the mission of buying meat for the Italian army. On October 8, Italy surrendered unconditionally to the Allied forces. Italian citizens in Hungary were then considered the enemy of the Hungarian Government, which was allied with Germany, and were at risk of arrest and internment. During this period, the Hungarians had forced Jews of Budapest into a ghetto, and they began deporting them to Nazi death camps, even as the Russians advanced on the eastern front.
Some of the film's scenes feature other historical persons. For instance, Perlasca rescued two children from deportation and certain death while observed by Adolf Eichmann, who was in Hungary overseeing deportation of Jews to concentration and death camps. The film refers to Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish diplomat who issued papers to protect tens of thousands of Jews.
After the war, Perlasca returned to his home in Padua. In post-war Italy Perlasca spoke of his efforts and wanted to receive recognition, but was largely ignored due to his fascist connections (He had fought on the side of fascism in Spain, for example).
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Wikipedia