Perlasca: Un eroe italiano (2002)

Perlasca – Un eroe Italiano (English: Perlasca, an Italian Hero also known as Perlasca, The Courage of a Just Man) is a 2002 Italian drama about Giorgio Perlasca, an Italian businessman working in Hungary for his government. After Italy surrendered to the Allies, he took refuge in the Spanish Embassy. Aware of the threat to Jews, he first began to help them find shelter in Spanish safe houses.

After the Spanish ambassador moved to Switzerland, Perlasca posed as the Spanish consul, tricking Nazi officials and saving the lives of more than 5,000 Jews in Hungary in 1944 during the Holocaust. The film was made by Rai Uno and aired as a two-part TV film. The Village Voice deemed this account as "more courageous than Spielberg."

Synopsis

The film starts in a Budapest Hotel with a narrative introduction by Perlasca. His chambermaid warns him of a raid of Hungarian Arrow Cross storm troopers coming to arrest him. He escapes and manages gets to the railway station, where he tries to sneak onto a sheep transport wagon. Discovered by a local officer named Glückmar he is arrested (as Italy has surrendered to the Alllies, Italian citizens in Hungary are considered enemies). While he is being taken away, an Allied air strike hits the station and Perlasca escapes.

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