On a special day in 1938, all of Rome is attending a parade celebrating Hitler’s meeting with Mussolini. A working-class housewife, left alone to tend to household duties, meets the only person not attending the parade, a liberal radio broadcaster, and the two forge an unexpectedly close friendship.

Set over the course of a single hot day in Rome, this Golden Globe winner is Ettore Scola’s romantic epic, shot in splendid muted colors. A passion struck between ideological and sexual opposites poignantly reveals the brainwashing propaganda of fascist Italy and an ultimately universal humanity.