A review of the 1945 classic film “Rome, Open City”
Italian Neorealism ran from 1943 to 1952 and this film is one of the earliest and most memorable expressions of that movement. Key features of the movement were a focus on ordinary working people and the use of non-professional actors, vernacular dialogue and real locations.
For Italians in 1945, nothing could be more realistic than memories of the war and this film centres on the resistance activities of Manfredi (Marcello Pagliero), the communist leader of the National Liberation Committee, during the 1944 German occupation of Rome. While so many earlier films tended to have ‘a happy ending’, this work is harsh in how it treats its heroes.
The production had limited financial and technical resources and it was shot in documentary style on location in the streets of Rome and in a makeshift studio, only six months after the liberation of the city while Germany still occupied Northern Italy. The resulting powerful drama was a success both in Italy and the United States and it launched the careers of director Roberto Rossellini, co-writer Federico Fellini and actress Anna Magnani.
Rossellini followed “Rome, Open City” (1945) with “Paisan” (1946) and “Germany, Year Zero” (1948) to create what is known as his War Trilogy.