Rose Island Review: You Don’t Hate Me for What I’ve Done

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Netflix has dropped a couple of decent based-on-true-story movies, including Hibilly Elegy, but they have yet to find the perfect recipe. 

What Happens in Rose Island?

Giorgio Rosa was an Italian engineer who, in 1967 after graduating from school, decided that he wanted to leave his life and country behind and construct an island out of steel in the international waters off the coast of Rimini Italy. With the help of his friend and fellow engineer Maurizio, the two constructed the island and lived on the island. As they began to build things on the island, they hired some people who saw the potential of making the island a tourist attraction.

The island, now named Rose Island, became famous across Europe and people begin going to the island to have a good time. Eventually, Giorgio wants to officially make the island an independent state and sends information about the island to the United Nations to seek approval. The Italian government catches wind of this and is not pleased so they begin trying to prevent the island from becoming a state while Giorgio valiantly defends it.

Who Are The Characters in Rose Island?

Giorgio Rosa is a recent graduate and is an engineer. During his time as a student, Giorgio lived in his own world and pursued his dreams. He built a functional airplane and a serviceable car, which is nothing to scoff at. However, with all his genius, Giorgio does not understand basic Italian law and gets arrested one night after getting caught with no license plate, no registration, and no license. Alongside this genius are the other residents of the Rose Island government, Maurizio as Secretary, Neumann as International Affairs, Franca as the barkeep, and Pietro Bernardi as Surveillance and Defense. 

Rose Island Review

This is a very intriguing movie based on a true story. As an engineering student, this plot grabbed my attention at the beginning, but it does a good job of staying captivating. Taking place in 1968, the plot was fairly simple, but I couldn’t believe I had never heard Giorgio Rose’s story.

This movie doesn’t rely on comedy, nor does it use it very often, but there are a few funny moments of situational irony within the first 30 minutes that helped introduce the characters and build up the plot.

This plot is fairly well-adapted, and the characters were also well-written. I had two issues on the characters’ side, one of which could be because I don’t speak Italian. This is a dubbed movie originally in Italian, and the English dub is choppy. I’m not sure if it is because the flow is lost in the translation or if it just wasn’t super well written.

If anyone watches this in its original format, drop a comment on if the dialogue flows or stays that same sort of choppy style.

The other issue I have with the characters is we don’t get a whole bunch of detail surrounding their previous lives. The character development is lacking, and while I understand that wasn’t the main focus of this movie, I really would have liked to get a bit more information about the characters around Giorgio. I thought the ending was good, not unlike the movie. It left a few things up in the air, but it did a good job of closing the book on Rose Island.

This is a good movie that makes you appreciate Giorgio’s genius, but it also reminds us of the way people ahead of their time are treated. I think I enjoyed the true story behind the movie more than the actual movie itself, but the movie does a good job of providing the information.