The Gates of Heaven

The Gates of Heaven (Italian: La porta del cielo) is a 1945 Italian drama film directed by Vittorio De Sica. The film was made during the German occupation of Rome, with support from the Vatican. This and another film The Ten Commandments allowed a number of actors, under pressure to go north and work in Venice for the film industry of Mussolini's puppet Italian Social Republic, to remain in Rome. The film's sets were designed by Salvo D'Angelo who also worked as co-producer. Vittorio de Sica hired approximately 300 extras, who were Jewish or simply being persecuted by the Nazi regime, because of their physical oddity. To avoid their deportation and later execution, he prolonged the shooting of the film as long as he could, awaiting the arrival of the allied armies. The film won the OCIC Special Award at the 53rd Venice International Film Festival in 1996 for efforts to restore the film.