Giovanni Fago is one of the most experienced
film-makers currently active in Italy. Way back
in 1954, he was Joseph Mankiewicz's assistant
on The Barefoot Contessa. He also
worked with, among others, De Sica, Pontecorvo
and Rossellini before directing his first feature
in 1967.
Sulla
Spiaggia E Di La Dal Molo (On the Beach
Beyond the Pier), his new film, is inspired
by a novel by Mario Tobino. Set in Viareggio,
a seaside town in Tuscany, it spans 60 years.
With
Tobino's approval, Fago decided to concentrate
on only three of the main characters in the book
Andrea, Guido and Nives. He follows them
from the 1920s, when they were adolescents, right
up to the 1980s. The upheavals in their lives
are matched by those in the city itself. At one
point, Viareggio becomes a utopian Soviet republic,
while in the Second World War, it is a centre
of anti-Fascist resistance.
