From Mother to Daughter (2008)

Overview

This documentary travels back to the World War II period, with archival footage of the workers that demonstrates how the women lived from day to day (driving trucks and tractors, bathing in streams, et cetera - always singing to keep their spirits up); director Andrea Zambelli then interviews those among the women who are still living (now in their 70s and 80s). As the film unfurls, it reveals an astonishing and colorful truth: a number of the women subsequently formed a singing ensemble during their golden years, and decided to tour Italy in that outfit, regularly performing the folks songs of their youth that majestically re-evoke that time. As the women congregate and talk on-camera, revealing their colorful, magnetic personalities, they tell detailed and evocative tales of the past and of the emotions they initially experienced.