A Lighter Burden to Bear 1998

Directed by Elisabetta Lodoli

Rome, late 1990s. Military service is still compulsory, and to avoid it, Marco, an ambitious young architect already on the rise, chooses conscientious objection and the resulting alternative civilian service. However, he ends up in a rehabilitation center for the disabled, where he has to take care of a girl suffering from a severe form of muscular dystrophy. After a difficult start, marked by the intolerance of the young manager, who is not used to low-paid jobs, the two form a deep bond, and the architect says that thanks to the girl, his civil service has been less difficult.