Sicily, 1935. Aldo Piscitello, a minor government clerk, is forced to join the Fascist party. From that moment forward, his family’s misadventures—including his son being sent into battle—will follow those of the nation: an Italy shocked by the dictatorship first and then by the Second World War.

Almost as soon as WW2 ended, Italian filmmakers began to examine the effects of the fascist regime on ordinary citizens. With a wonderful score from the great Nino Rota, this 1948 classic turns to the rise of authoritarianism for a powerful study in political impotence and the national conscience.