Based on the true story of engineer Giorgio Rosa, who built an independent state off the coast of
Italy, this is a slight offering
This lightweight Italian comedy-drama is a story from the strange-but-true archives; in 1968, young engineer Giorgio Rosa built an island half a kilometre off the coast of Rimini out of steel, which looked a bit like an
Oil rig. Exploiting a loophole in the law, he positioned his construction just outside of Italian jurisdiction in international waters and declared it an independent state. The movie is an affectionate tribute to Rosa: silly and watchable enough, but short on laughs.
Casting 40-year-old Elio Germano is pushing it a bit to play freshly qualified engineer Rosa, an eccentric dreamer who drives around in a funny little car he made at college (using his granny’s sofa as the front seat). His ex-girlfriend is sick of his harebrained schemes and is marrying someone else. So heartsick Rosa, with his buddy Maurizio (Leonardo Lidi), whose dad handily owns a shipyard, cooks up a plan to build the island. The two men pick up a few waifs – a castaway, a pregnant barmaid and a German club promoter who turns their bolthole into a party island. Suddenly, flotillas of groovy kids are arriving on speedboats to party (though it all looks pretty tame).