Review of Cielo sulla palude

I had never heard of this before its recent screening on late-night Italian TV but, checking up on HEAVEN OVER THE MARSHES (the original title's literal translation) on the 'Net, I realized that it was the recipient of a couple of Venice Film Festival prizes – thus worth viewing in my book. As had been the case with THE STORY OF JACOB AND Joseph (1974; TV) – a viewing of which preceded this one – the life story of the child Saint Maria Goretti, who was canonized for upholding her virginity at the cost of her own life, was a staple during religious doctrine classes while I was growing up. The basic plot involving simple country folk (typically played, for the most part, by non-professionals and, consequently, restricted pretty much to stereotypes) lent itself to the rigorous "Neo-Realism" style then fashionable in Italy. Even so, the film – obviously laden with melodramatic situations but, in keeping with the theme and the approach, also displaying great feeling for its pastoral setting – is uncommonly stretched to 109 minutes (so that the second half virtually presents a relentless succession of attempts upon the girl's virtue!). For the record, I recently acquired another little-known but similarly well-regarded effort from director Genina i.e. the WWII movie BENGASI (1942) which, needless to say, takes a pro-Fascist stance.