Rose Island

Sydney Sibilia’s film arrived on Netflix in December 2020 and won 3 of its 11 David di Donatello nominations: supporting actor for Fabrizio Bentivoglio, supporting actress for Matilda De Angelis, and visual effects for Stefano Leoni and Elisabetta Rocca. The effects prize was earned on the floor. The island was built in a water tank at Malta Film Studios; the crew drained it completely, put the platform up on dry ground, then let the water back in. The Malta shoot began in September and the production ran past 8 million euros. The real Rose Island was a 400 square metre platform on 9 pylons, 11 kilometres off the coast of Emilia-Romagna, with Esperanto as its official language. It declared independence on 1 May 1968 and the authorities took it over 55 days later. The film closes on a demolition; in fact the navy’s first bombing failed, the platform still stood after the second, and a storm brought it down in February 1969. Giorgio Rosa was then billed for the cost, and died in 2017, having given the film his blessing. A good fit if you want engineering detail and bureaucratic farce together, at the pace of Sibilia’s Smetto quando voglio trilogy. Not for anyone who needs the real chronology kept; a good deal was rearranged, the ending included.