Rose Island Parent Guide

Although he’s just received his certification as an engineer, Giorgio Rosa (Elio Germano) is not satisfied, even when he lands a prestigious job as part of the mechanic crew on an elite race team. Giorgio wants to build something unique, something that will allow him to be completely free…something like an independent island built in international waters off the coast of Italy.

Never one to let a good idea go to waste, Giorgio gets to work building his island, and although the construction isn’t easy, he finally completes Rose Island in 1968. Then Giorgio learns that not everyone is excited about the world’s newest country.

The Italian government, especially Internal Affairs minister Franco Restivo (Fabrizio Bentivoglio), have a vested interest in preventing Rose Island from ever achieving the sovereignty Giorgio imagined, and they’ll go to any lengths to get their way…

Although most of us have never heard of Rose Island, the film is based on a true story. Giorgio Rosa really did build a 4,300 square foot platform in the Adriatic and try to establish an independent nation. Although I doubt this movie ranks high in terms of historical accuracy, it is an interesting introduction to a relatively uncommon aspect of international history.

Accurate or not, a successful film needs authentic characters and some sense of storytelling. Rose Island has both – mostly. The pacing is rather slow, and the characters are basically clichés, but they do manage to be surprisingly charming. This isn’t something you could call a high-intensity adventure.

As far as parents are concerned, Rose Island is unlikely to be a top pick for educational cinema. Apart from the liberties taken with history, there are rather more profanities than you’d expect in family-friendly films. Surprisingly enough, despite the famed European casualness towards nudity, there’s none here - I’m willing to call that a Christmas miracle. On the other hand, there is a fair bit of casual drinking. Given that the protagonist is essentially running an offshore beach club, it’s not much of a surprise.

Rose Island is remarkably mediocre. I don’t mean that entirely in a bad way, the flick is competently made, and the actors all seem to be doing a fine job. But nothing about it is exemplary or stands out from the pack. It’s not boring, but it won’t extract more than passing interest from your average audience – unless they hate subtitles in which case this Italian language film is a non-starter. I’m just going to chalk this up as another one of those movies that I feel like I watched on a plane, and will never think about it again. I suppose there are worse ways to spend an hour and a half.