The Sky is Falling

By Lorenza Mazzetti

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Lorenza Mazzetti (1927-2020) was a  writer, filmmaker,  and theatre puppeteer who wrote this, her first novel,  in 1962, published as II Cielo cade. It was only published in this country in 2022.

“The Sky is Falling” is a fictionalised account of the early years of her life. Born in Italy,  Lorenza’s  mother died when she was a child and her father sent her, and her younger sister, to live with his sister and her husband on a farm in Tuscany. Lorenza was brought up in a highly cultured family: her uncle was Robert, the cousin of Albert Einstein. We know little about her aunt. She had two cousins, Anna Maria, and Luce.

After the war Lorenza came to England to work on a farm, like many displaced people. Her story is taken up in her book  “London Diary.”   Life changes again when she becomes part of the Free Cinema movement of the 1950s in London.One of her most powerful films, completed with the assistance of   Lindsay Anderson,  is called “Together.”  Made  in 1950s London,  and shot in black and white,  it follows two men  – who are deaf and dumb –  as they navigate working on the docks, living in a boarding house, and drinking in the local pub. And the local children are there, racing after the men, pulling faces, and using the docks as a giant playground.