This was Roberto Rossellini’s revelation, a harrowing drama about the Nazi occupation of Rome and the brave few who struggled against it. Though told with a bit more melodramatic flair than the other films that would form this trilogy and starring well-known actors—Aldo Fabrizi as a priest helping the partisan cause and Anna Magnani in her breakthrough role as the fiancée of a resistance member—Rome Open City (Roma città aperta) is a shockingly authentic experience, conceived and directed amid the ruin of World War II, with immediacy in every frame. Marking a watershed moment in Italian cinema, this galvanic work was an international sensation, garnering awards around the globe and leaving the beginnings of a new film movement in its wake. —The Criterion Collection
Rossellini was one of the directors of the Italian neorealist cinema, contributing films such as Roma città aperta (Rome, Open City 1945) to the movement.
In 1937, Rossellini made his first documentary, Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune. After this essay, he was called to assist Goffredo Alessandrini in making Luciano Serra pilota, one of the most successful Italian films of the first half of the 20th century. In 1940 he was called to assist Francesco De Robertis on Uomini sul Fondo.His close friendship with Vittorio Mussolini, son of Il Duce, has been interpreted as a possible reason for having been preferred to other apprentices.
Some authors describe the first part of his career as a sequence of trilogies. His first feature film, La nave bianca (1942) was sponsored by the audiovisual propaganda centre of Navy Department and is the first work in Rossellini’s “Fascist Trilogy”, together with Un pilota ritorna (1942) and Uomo dalla Croce (1943). To this period belongs… read more
An authentic look at the diverse human machinations behind the Italian resistance during World War II. Rossellini seems to possess a knack for painting his native Italy through the camera, so much so that his lucid storytelling transcends the sprawling screenplay itself. Quite sound, also bringing to mind The Battle of Algiers in its later following Rossellini’s template.
The uncritical view of the opposed sides, the light treatment given to the fascisti compared to the Germans, the melodrama that isnt conscious of itself as such, etc have not aged well. Can only theoretically imagine the shock of this film in the 40s when juxtaposed against the studio films. What still has startling power is the shooting of certain key scenes, for instance the one where Magnani breaks free. WOW!.
I'm usually harsh on this one because it has the most rigid classical structure of all Rossellini's work (which Rossellini himself considered a flaw), but every time I see this film it is so moving, so incredibly powerful on a gut level. One leaves this film feeling like a wounded animal. I'm not usually one for ranking filmmakers, but I'm beginning to fell that Rossellini is, bar none, the greatest.
I only have Ford and Bunuel as high as RR. You need to come out of the shadows more, Neil, and participate in the World Cup or something. BTW- I've got a link to Ford's Bucking Broadway, courtesy of Greg X, if you're interested.
By the way, have you seen any of Rossellini's "facist" films? Eg. The White Ship, A Pilot Returns, etc? I've wanted to see them for so long.
This is pretty stunning on a gut level (Magnani's death scene, come to think of it, every major character's death scene), but did the Germans all have to be mustache-twisting homosexuals? I still haven't seen Germany Year Zero, which I'm hoping will prove that Rossellini wasn't quite as simple-minded about the enemy as he comes off here. Still, this is a must-see, incredibly powerful and immediate.
Also: Elaine May interviews Ethan Coen and Woody Allen. Lubitsch in LA. New Alps trailer.
Above: Germany Year Zero. Courtesy of the Criterion Collection. Many of the extras (interviews, visual essays) included in this Criterion
"In the immediate aftermath of World War II, Roberto Rossellini made three films that helped to lay the foundations of modern cinema: Rome
I was going to begin by saying that it would be hard to find two consecutive sentences in the film writings of Manny Farber that do not immediately
An early classic of neorealism, the film is also a dichotomy. It follows some of the tenets of neorealism (use of mostly non-professional actors, wide use of location filming, etc.), but rejects the… read review