The Other side of the coin = Il Rovescio della medaglia

Description: Documentary film about post World War II Italian migrants living in somewhat depressed circumstances in Sydney. A group of Italian men discuss their situations since arriving in Australia, the discrimination, their inability to obtain a decent paying job no matter how skilled they are, their inadequate living conditions and lack of money and education, and the threat of deportation if their political beliefs (particularly those of socialist/communist persuasion) are too radical in the minds of the incumbent Liberal government (1978) whose politics of assimilation appear to be the driving force. Loneliness and alienation are part of daily existence amongst the migrant community, more so with the older generation as their children having been taught English at school, refuse to speak Italian at home. There appears to be a sense of a loss of culture and language contrary to the perception that post-war Australia is made up of a multilingual and multicultural society. The background story to the film which provides the basis for discussion about migrant rights is the deportation in 1978 of a radical community worker, Ignazio Salemi. Includes archival footage of Italian labourers working the Queensland cane fields during the 1950s.