One boy risked everything to protect her. Malena Movie She was too young to be a widow, and too beautiful to be alone. Malena is the utterly unforgettable story of a boy's journey into manhood amid the chaos and intolerance of World War II. On June 10 Malena is a simpler story, in which a young man grows up transfixed by a woman and essentially. It won the Grand Prix at the 2001 Cabourg Film Festival. It stars Monica Bellucci and Giuseppe Sulfaro. Malèna is a 2000 romantic comedy-drama film directed and written by Giuseppe Tornatore from a story by Luciano Vincenzoni.