The Night of the Shooting Stars

The film opens with a mother telling her sleeping son a story from her childhood. She explains that wishes come true when a shooting star appears. The tale is framed as a memory of an Italian town at the end of World War II, in the summer of 1944. The frame establishes a gentle, hopeful tone amid nearby danger.

A man and his pregnant fiancée marry in the town church. After the ceremony, the bride's family celebrates with a mix of joy and fear about being discovered by the Germans or their allies. The wedding unfolds under the oppressive shadow of occupation. This setup introduces the relationships at the heart of the story.

The German army is retreating across Italy, leaving a path of destruction in its wake. They order the villagers to gather in the church before blowing up several buildings. Approximately half the town chooses to stay inside the church while the rest slip away into the night.

The groom joins the retreating column to seek safety, while his wife and her mother stay behind in the church. The group hopes the American liberators will arrive to end the nightmare. The tension between safety in the church and escape outside drives the early action.

On the road, the group encounters partisans harvesting grain who can help carry people toward safety. The partisans express grievances about grain stolen by Fascists, underscoring the chaos of war. The travelers decide to work with them to move toward a liberated city.

The bishop gathers the faithful for a makeshift communion using bread from a townswoman. As he blesses the improvised bread, Fascists bomb the church and chaos erupts. The young bride is killed, and the mother struggles to rescue her before the husband arrives too late.

The groom returns to his group, only to learn his wife has perished in the blast. The group escapes the church's ruin and continues traveling under the weight of loss. The violence of the bombing sharpens the dangers of their journey.

The survivors press on with the partisans toward a safer area, doing their best to blend in. They help harvest grain while German planes fly overhead at midday, forcing them to hide. The alliance with the partisans offers a rare thread of safety, even as fear remains constant.

Cecilia recalls the night of San Lorenzo, when shooting stars are said to grant wishes. In the terror of war, the crowd is too overwhelmed by fear to notice or heed the wishes. The memory underscores how hope persists even in moments of extreme suffering.

A small fascist band spots the travelers, and a brutal firefight erupts in the countryside. Cecilia's grandfather is killed in the exchange, a blow that deepens the group’s loss. In a sudden magical moment, a Roman soldier appears with spear and shield, and a line of Roman warriors seems to rise to slay the Fascist before saving Cecilia.

The survivors find a farm willing to host them for the night. Galvano and Concetta, two older members, admit that they have harbored feelings for each other since youth. Their quiet romance injects a note of tenderness into the harsh journey.

The region is liberated by the U.S. Fifth Army, and the survivors celebrate in the rain. With new hope, they decide to head home, believing they have survived and can rebuild. The moment marks a turning point from flight to a possible return.

The mother asks her sleeping son to remember the rhyme's lines as a final message. It is revealed that the mother is Cecilia, the child from the story, linking the tale and the life of the storyteller. The film closes by returning to the maternal frame and the promise of memory and wish.