By Shelisa Payne
The BYU International Cinema, located at the Varsity Theatre, brings to students the opportunity to see two exceptional films this week: “General della Rovere” and “The Clay Bird.”
These films educate students about periods of time and parts of the world most students wouldn”t be exposed to otherwise said Travis Anderson, director of the International Cinema.
“General della Rovere” takes place in Genoa, Italy, after the Badoglio armistice has been signed with the Allies in the south. Bertone, alias Grimaldi, is a skillful con man operating a lucrative scam extracting money from people by falsely posing as an officer in the Italian army.
When the Gestapo catch him, they offer him a deal: accept a mission to penetrate the resistance movement by impersonating General della Rovere, a Resistance leader murdered by the Nazis, or die. The Gestapo believe, without a doubt, that Bertone will sell-out the Resistance.
Without much of a choice, Bertone accepts the mission, which will transform him from a spineless coward into an unlikely hero.
“This film suggests that most would choose good, even at a great personal sacrifice,” Anderson said. “[Bertone] has to make a choice about who he is and who he”s going to be and has the chance to be the hero he”s always pretended to be and makes the choice, I think, we all hope we”d make: that in the face of evil, we choose good.”
The “Clay Bird” is a contemporary film with historical conflicts that raises people”s consciousness of what”s going on in the world around us said Anderson.
“The Clay Bird,” created by husband-and-wife team Tareque and Catherine Masud, brings a rare glimpse of Bangladesh using the country”s rich and complicated history as the backdrop for their first feature film.
