La ciociara / Two Women

Based on the 1957 novel of the same name by Alberto Moravia, Two Women tells the story of a mother trying to protect her young daughter from the horrors of war. During World War II, Italian widow Cesira (Sophia Loren) must leave Rome with her devout daughter when the city comes under attack by Allied forces. The pair flee to a small village, where they meet -- and both fall for -- the charming Michele (Jean-Paul Belmondo). But the war uproots the life of mother and daughter once again when soldiers attack the duo and subject them to sexual assault. Their bond is strained as they struggle to overcome the tragedy that changes them both forever. Though fictional, the storyline was inspired by actual events of 1944 during what Italians call the Marocchinate, a term applied to the mass rape and killings of civilian women and girls in rural Southern Italy, committed mainly by by the Moroccan Goumiers, the colonial troops of the French Expeditionary Corps in Italy.