The Story (Season 1)

The Story (La Storia, 2024) is an Italian period drama worth watching online on iFILM. Adapted from Elsa Morante's sweeping novel, it opens in a Rome of 1940 where ordinary life is already coming apart at the seams.

At its heart is Ida, a soft-spoken schoolteacher, half-Jewish — which in those months was a death sentence if anyone found out. She raises two sons alone: the elder one itching for politics and a fight, the younger born of a brutal chance encounter with a German soldier. As the city changes hands and the round-ups turn into an everyday sound, Ida hides her origins and simply tries to keep her children fed, one day at a time, with none of the big speeches about heroism.

Jasmine Trinca leads, with Francesca Archibugi directing. This isn't a war-action piece but a long, hushed chronicle of a small person whom History grinds down without noticing. A powerful, heavy watch for anyone drawn to Italian cinema about memory and the price of survival. Stream The Story (2024) online on iFILM.