The Garden of the Finzi-Continis

It's an uneasy feeling to be inside an undefined space, especially if you may need to hide or run, and that's exactly the feeling De Sica gets.

This is not one of those worthless, ponderous pieces of arthouse twaddle but I would never enthusiastically recommend it to anybody. There are far better European dramas about the Holocaust that are emotionally involving as well as being solidly crafted.

An achingly beautiful cautionary tale about the blindness of privilege, a movie rich with longing and loss.

For its story moment before the gathering storm broke, this film is a garden wall held up, a finger in the dyke, just before the deluge and fall into darkness.