In Netflix ‘s gripping spanish crime series Money Heist, the central gang of daring robbers sing the italian birdcall “ Bella Ciao ” to embolden themselves for the burglarize, and to celebrate victories. The Money Heist song embodies the show ‘s subject of resistance, but its lyrics besides serve as an oman of death – which the gang have encountered several times throughout their two major heists .
Money Heist ‘s ‘Bella Ciao ‘ song originated among the women who worked Italy’s rice paddy fields in the late 19th and early twentieth century. A field worker was called a mondina, and the mondina translation of “ Bella Ciao ” is a deplore about the back-breaking undertaking, atrocious conditions and low give that the mondine suffered through. The original lyrics bemoan biting insects, a boss wielding a cane, and the loss of young. “ Bella Ciao ” became cemented as an italian family sung following the mondina laborers protesting harsh bring conditions, turning into a hymn for the exploited and a protest birdcall against versatile systems, regimes, and world power. The song dates back to adenine early as 1906, but was popularized in the late nineteenth century and became connected with all forms of protest, including as an anti-fascist root during World War II. “ Bella Ciao ” has besides been translated and recorded by a count of artists from around the global, including in Danish, German, Hindi, Arabic, Spanish, Turkish, and Kurdish, among several others. The songwriter is nameless, “ Bella Ciao ” was in the first place “ Alla mattina appena alzata ” and there are actually two versions of the lyrics for “ Bella Ciao. ”
SCREENRANT VIDEO OF THE DAY Related : Money Heist Character Guide : Every Robber ‘s Real Name & Backstory
The history of Money Heist ‘s ‘Bella Ciao ‘ song may sound like it ‘s a world aside from Money Heist, in which the robbers plan to print their own money and live a life of work-free luxury. But the mondine interpretation of “ Bella Ciao ” was n’t just a ailment about hard sour ; it was a protest song that came to define the mondina women ‘s rebellion against their conditions. The final lines of the song articulation a promise to one day sour in freedom, and it was that spirit of resistance that carried through to the translation heard in Money Heist. The Netflix series merely brought it back into the cultural conversation, uplifting a hymn that was already widely recognized .
What The “Bella Ciao” Song Lyrics Mean In English
The first time the crowd sing “ Bella Ciao ” in Money Heist season 1, it ‘s a moment of victory after Moscow hits land when digging a tunnel through a vault in the Royal Mint. Though it seems like a elated picture, italian speakers may pick up on the darkness in the sung ‘s lyrics. The version of “ Bella Ciao ” sing by the italian anti-fascist partisans in World War II ( and by the crowd in Money Heist ) is actually an credence of impending end. “ Bella Ciao ” means “ Goodbye, beautiful ” in English, and the lie of the lyrics outline the cause for this adieu .
“ One dawn I awakened
and I found the invader .
Oh partisan carry me away
Because I feel death approach .
And if I die as a partisan
then you must bury me .
Bury me up in the batch
under the shade of a beautiful flower .
And all those who shall pass ,
will tell me “ what a beautiful bloom. ”
This is the bloom of the enthusiast ,
who died for freedom. ”
Though “ Bella Ciao ” is used to mark the happiest moment of the Royal Mint burglarize, it ‘s besides used to foreshadow death. The Professor ( Álvaro Morte ) and Berlin ( Pedro Alonso ) sing it together in a flashback in Money Heist season 1 ‘s finale, after Oslo ( Roberto Garcia ) has been hit over the headway and left terminally brain-damaged. He dies in the following episode, when Helsinki decides to softly put him out of his misery preferably than risk leaving him to the mercy of the patrol. The song is heard again in the Money Heist season 2 finale, when Berlin sacrifices his own life in a hail of police gunfire in orderliness to buy the others enough time to escape. As fun as “ Bella Ciao ” might be to sing, it ‘s not necessarily a sign of good times to come .
Why The Money Heist Gang Sing “Bella Ciao”
The meaning behind “ Bella Ciao ” is revealed in Money Heist ‘s season 1 finale, during a flashback where Berlin tells the Professor to escape and save himself if the gang does n’t make it out of the Royal Mint. When Berlin asks him to make a promise, the Professor deflects by telling him that nothing will go incorrect, adding, “ We ‘re the immunity, right ? ” As he begins to sing “ Bella Ciao, ” Tokyo ( Úrsula Corberó ) explains in voiceover that the Professor ‘s grandfather fight with the partisans during World War II, and that he had taught it to the young Professor, who in turn taught it to the gang. For the Professor, the song symbolizes the cardinal mind of his life : resistance. It ‘s quite in character for the Professor to embrace the ideals of electric resistance and exemption in “ Bella Ciao, ” while besides blinding himself to the fact that it ‘s a sung about death .
The finish of the Professor and the gang in Money Heist is n’t deoxyadenosine monophosphate elementary as getting rich – or at least, not for the Professor. He designs the Royal Mint burglarize in such a direction that the robbers will be printing their own money quite than stealing anyone else ‘s. Speaking to the police, he justifies their action thus :
“ In 2011, the european Central Bank made €171bn out of nowhere. Just like we ’ rhenium doing. alone bigger. Do you know where all that money went ? To the banks. directly from the factory to the pockets of the rich. Did anyone call the european Central Bank a thief ? No. ‘ Liquidity injections, ’ they called it. I ’ molarity making a liquidity injection, but not for the banks. I ’ molarity making it hera, in the very economy. ”
just as “ Bella Ciao ” transformed from a protest song for rice paddy workers into a song of resistor for anti-fascist partisans, it has since been used as a cry of resistance in many other forms and many different countries. In Money Heist, it ‘s a cry of underground against a capitalist arrangement that bailed out the banks following the fiscal crisis of 2007-2008, while a generation of people were left struggling. It ‘s small wonder that, in between Money Heist seasons 2 and 3, ” Bella Ciao ” renewed its popularity as an anthem of immunity around the populace – not only in the display, but in very life arsenic well. The fact that the music and lyrics have lived on for this long and are now even more widely known speaks to the spirit and staying might of “ Bella Ciao, ” its meaning for resistance against oppression, mistreatment, and the desire for freedom. Money Heist rejuvenated a potent song that was, in its own way, a mirror of the real world and the issues people are still facing .
More : Why Money Heist Season 5 Killed Off [ SPOILER ]
share
tweet
electronic mail
About The Author
Hannah Shaw-Williams
( 3313 Articles Published )
Hannah has been with Screen Rant since 2013, covering news, features, movie premieres, Comic-Con and more ! You can follow her on Twitter @ HSW3K
More From Hannah Shaw-Williams
