Title: Rome, Open City
Release Date: September 27, 1945
Director: Roberto Rossellini
Production Company: Excelsa Film
Summary/Review:
Filmed in the final days of World War II, Rome, Open City is a neorealistic film depicting a fictionalized account of the Italian Resistance Movement in 1944. There’s not much acknowledgement that Italy was an Axis power as by the time film begins, Rome is under control of the occupying German forces and the Italian fascist puppet government. The main figures of the resistance in the movie are communist Giorgio Manfredi (Marcello Pagliero), Francesco (Francesco Grandjacquet), Pina (Anna Magnani), and parish priest Don Pietro Pellegrini (Aldo Fabrizi). Don Pietro is supposed to marry Francesco and the visibly pregnant Pina but the crackdown of SS officers seeking Manfredi sets everyone in motion.
The film depicts the grim realities of the deprivation of a wartime city, betrayals, grim torture, and flat out murder. But the film also contains moments of humanity, particularly Don Pietro’s devotion to protecting the resistance. And there is hope in the children who assist the resistance and are the future of Italy. Technically speaking this is a “low-budget film” but considering the conditions under which it was made it is a remarkable artistic achievement.
Rating: ****
Panorama of the Mountains 