15
Amore, written, produced and directed by Maurice Murphy, is the
latest example of Magna Pacific’s commitment to quality Australian
filmmaking. The film will be released to DVD on the 11th of August.
A
touching story about World War
II life in
Australia
, 15
Amore tells the tale of
Italian POW’s and German
refugees interred on a farm as
wartime labour.
Thrown
together by circumstance,
Alfredo (Steve Bastoni) falls in
love with Dorothy (Lisa
Hensley), but both are married
to absent spouses and unable to
release their emotions. This is
the story of a mixed up time
when the Italian ‘enemies’
were friends, the Jewish women
were proud Germans and the
Australians were… just
Australian.
Sumptuously
shot on 35mm, 15
Amore melds fine
performances from an excellent
cast with some magnificent and
richly coloured cinematography.
The
film tells the true story of Murphy’s childhood in
Mt.
Macedon
. Independently funded, the film is a testament to what a committed
filmmaker can accomplish with determination and a dream.
“I
don’t think we actually should have had two Italian prisoners because
we didn’t really have a farm. We just had what the film shows – some
chooks and a horse and some timber to cut down. But my mother said the
Australian Army knocked on the door one day and said, ‘Do you want a
couple of Italians?’” said Murphy.
“We
were supposed to be having a miserable time in the ware but were having
an jolly fine time being middle-class people. We were having people wait
on us hand and foot. Because we lived out in the bush, there weren’t
any food worries. We didn’t miss a car because we had a horse and
cart.”
Winning
wide acclaim, Margaret Pomeranz called it “surprisingly astute” and
“a beautiful-looking gentle film”, while FilmInk
said it was “Beautifully shot… 15
Amore is a simple yet powerful portrait of an
Australia
almost forgotten.”
The
DVD includes an interesting and candid featurette filmed by Murphy. In
tribute to Russian
Ark, it is a one-take wander through the
Mt.
Macedon
property that inspired the film and tells the story of how an
independent, personal story came to be written, funded, cast and shot.
