“The children’s train”: Three Ways of Being a Mother in Post-War Naples

Motherhood, the relationships between mothers and children with their potential conflicts, and traditional or innovative families—these are the topics that cinema never tires of exploring. Therefore, it is difficult to find a fresh perspective, one that avoids the risk of banality or repetition. However, Cristina Comencini, an Italian director –who is always attentive to women's issues both on screen and as a champion of women's rights-, tells a true story that focuses on two unconventional yet moving ways of being a mother in the film Il treno dei bambini [The Train of Children]. The film is based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Viola Ardone (Einaudi) and is available worldwide on the Netflix platform.

The year is 1946, in a Naples devastated by war. The hunger is so severe that even rats are eaten, and for children, there is only poverty and the streets. In this dramatic context, a social project is born, which was initiated by the Communist Party and entrusted for practical management to the Unione Donne Italiane [Italian Women's Union] (UDI, the women's organization of the political group). This project took 70,000 poor children to spend the winter with wealthier families in the north, where they were welcomed, fed, and cared for, with the hope of returning to their original homes. The child protagonist of the film, Amerigo, embarks on one of the “trains of happiness” heading to Emilia. He finds himself torn between two mothers, that of his biological mother, who, despite numerous difficulties, tries to raise him on her own and agrees to let him go to ensure the well-being she cannot provide (played with great intensity by actress Serena Rossi). Then there is his foster mother, portrayed by the equally convincing Barbara Ronchi in the role of a party official who initially accepts the “motherhood” role reluctantly, but eventually forms a deep bond with the child that will change his life. As an adult, he will understand the painful but selfless choice made by the woman who gave him life.

The film is both touching and sincere, with a genuinely popular language for the script, Il treno dei bambini deserves credit not only for bringing to light a rather unknown page of Italian history but also for contrasting two different yet complementary ways of experiencing motherhood. The film challenges the viewer to reflect on the question: is a true mother the one who gave birth to you but chooses, even painfully, not to keep you for your own good, or is it the stranger who generously decides to take you in to give you a future that was impossible at home? In this beautiful story that is full of emotions, there is a third protagonist, that beng the head of the UDI (played by actress Antonia Truppo), who cares for the Neapolitan children, and is the one who selects foster families in the north. This represents another dimension of motherhood, which is beyond definitions, but no less powerful.

by Gloria Satta