Rome, Open City (1945)

 Roberto Rossellini's "Rome, Open City"

Written during the Nazi occupation of Italy and filmed after Rome's liberation, Robert Rossellini's "Rome Open City" is one of the most staggering achievements in Italian cinema. During its filming, only Rome was liberated while the rest of Italy was under siege. It's openness and blatant manner, along with its stark realism, helped pave the way for Italian neorealist cinema and provided one of the most important documents of World War II ever put to film. 

When watching the film, I was utterly struck by the starkness of subject matter, themes, and visual photography. The film tackles fictional events of a group of Italian citizens trying to hide and move Francesco, a resistance fighter. Despite the tragic consequences of their journey, these characters must splay themselves open for the viewer to witness their true character. In the difficulty of their traumatic circumstances, these characters demonstrate who they are and what they stand for. Despite the oppressive and often horrifying brutality of the Nazi regime, we see these characters decide for themselves what kind of people they are and how their life will be served. As a result, we see characters on full display, open. Their true nature is revealed. Whether this true nature is built on integrity or of cowardice, there is no hiding from the viewer. The entire world is here to witness these citizens of Rome decide what their lives, and more importantly, their deaths mean. 

To visually enhance this thematic element of the film, Roberto Rossellini takes up the popular film movement sweeping Italy: neorealism. Because nothing about these characters' are being hidden, their nature, values, and identity are all uncompromisingly real and open, so too is the visual realness of the film's cinematography. If Luchino Visconti's 1943 wartime film "Ossessione" laid the foundations for the Italian neorealist movement, "Rome, Open City" made it the celebrated movement that it is. Nothing is hidden from the viewer, everything is out in the open. The stark visual messiness lay bear the horror and suffering of the people of Italy. I will say that as far as Italian neorealist films go, "Rome, Open City" is perhaps the most stylized. It bares truth that there is still the 'realist' element on full display, but Rossellini seems to have a knack for enhancing visual light and darkness through this visual openness. Touches of expressionism can still be found in the crevasses of the frame, but make no mistake, the visual realness of the image is never put by the wayside. 

"Rome, Open City" had one of the most significant impacts on post-war cinema and global culture. It was screened at the very first Cannes Film Festival in 1946 and even took home the ultimate prize, the Palme d'Or. It was an enormous success globally. According to Rossellini, he wanted a document, albeit a fictional one, to reveal to the entire world the truth of what was happening under both Nazi occupation and fascist oppression. The results are stark. The emotion is intense and more felt by the viewer because these horrors are so engrained and attached to the texture of the film, you can almost feel the lived experience of these incidents. It's a harrowing film full of sorrow and pain, but also of hope and integrity. It is an experience I won't soon forget.