The Children's Train

The Children's Train (Il treno dei bambini, 2024) is an Italian drama directed by Cristina Comencini — watch it online on iFILM. Set in the late 1940s, the film follows young Amerigo, a boy from the slums of Naples, whose mother makes one of the hardest choices a parent can face: she puts him on a train heading north.

In a prosperous northern family, Amerigo discovers what life without hunger looks like — different food, different language, a different world. The warmth he finds there doesn't cancel out the pain of leaving. As weeks stretch into months, the boy carries two homes inside him, and neither one feels complete. Barbara Ronchi, Serena Rossi and Stefano Accorsi lead the cast.

The film draws on a real post-war humanitarian programme run by Italian leftist groups, who relocated thousands of southern children to northern families. Director Comencini adapts the story from Erri De Luca's novel, turning a historical footnote into a portrait of poverty, sacrifice and the strange weight of being rescued. Stream The Children's Train (2024) online on iFILM.