Movie
Date/Time
Date(s) - 30/10/2025
7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Location
Columbia Valley Centre
Category(ies)
A fitting start to the Remembrance weeks, the Legion is proud to present a film with a message of hope.
Gino, a child of war
This film is the follow-on to the true story of Gino Farnetti Bragaglia, an Italian 5-year-old boy orphaned and abandoned during WWII, who was found, nourished, and cared for by Canadian soldiers during the Allied push into Italy in 1944.
The film tells the tale of five-year-old Gino Bragaglia and Canadian army truck driver Lloyd Oliver who, along with his unit, found the child. The story begins in June 1944 when the soldiers, who are deployed in Italy, come across a little boy sitting along on a bomb crater. They took the boy and cared for him for nine months.
“They were able to find a bike for him in the Christmas of ’44. They were able to round up some gifts and celebrate Christmas with him as much as they could during the war.”
“They saved that little boy, but I also think Gino saved them and gave them a purpose,”
When the war ended, Oliver and his squad hoped to bring Gino to Canada, but they were stopped at the port. The boy would eventually end up with an Italian family who agreed to adopt him.
In 1983 Gino was in his forties when he received a letter accompanied by an old photo of Canadian soldiers from the Italian Campaign. Reading the name of Lloyd ‘Red’ Oliver, a light ignites inside of him. He remembers the name, Red’, as one of the soldiers who took care of him during the war when he was found starving in a stone quarry near Torrice, in the Liri Valley of the Lazio region near Frosinone, south of Rome. This photograph and name bring Gino back to a mostly forgotten past, inspiring a need to rediscover his origins.
This incredible story is witness to the resilience of the human spirit. For Gino, remembering the caring and friendship he received as a young boy by these Canadian soldiers, the letter opens memories which were buried by life, yet have still endured some 80 years after the war. We are documenting these memories to show how the past can have profound meaning in the present. Extraordinary acts of bravery and humanity by this young boy’s ‘guardian angels’, born in the ashes of war, will be captured in this film as examples of kindness and dedication. Our hope is to help future generations learn about the tragedy of war, while showing the world how Canadian values illuminate the best in the human spirit.
As the film unfolds, Oliver returns to Italy to track down the family who adopted Gino. They were eventually reunited in 1980 in Manitoba with several other soldiers from the unit.
The pair kept in touch and remained friends until Oliver’s death in 2012, but the film doesn’t stop there.
It picks up with Gino, now 85, returning with members of Oliver’s family to the same village in Italy where he was found almost 80 years ago.
October 30 10:30 For students and staff of the SD6 school district
October 30 19:00 For the public
Location The Columbia Valley Centre, 646 4 St, Invermere, BC V0A 1K4
The showing of this film is a gift to the Rocky Mountain School District SD6 and the residents of Invermere from the Royal Canadian Legion, Windermere Branch 071. It is free of charge to all students and staff. The Columbia Valley Centre has a maximum seating capacity of 400.
Suggested age group, 10 years and older.
The film has been viewed and approved by Mr. Steve Weyer, Assistant Superintendent SD6
After the film, Executive Producer Tony Batista and Director Robert Curtin will entertain a Q&A period for those interested.
