Roberto Rossellini
Roberto Rossellini
RANKED:
5. Amore (1948)
Although it was considered a creative and commercial failure at the time of its release, Roberto Rossellini's "Amore" was still a creative swing for the director. The film is split into two episodes. The first centers on a woman alone in her apartment trying desperately to reconcile with a lover over the phone. The second centers on a village peasant who believes she was impregnated by Saint Joseph. The second episode received a lot of controversy, as many religious authorities felt it blasphemous. The first episode was belittled by critics who felt it was 'cinematic laziness.' Despite its let downs, the film remains a creative venture as well as featuring a powerhouse performance by Anna Magnani in perhaps the greatest of her career.
4. Stromboli (1950)
The film that started the professional collaboration between Italian film director Roberto Rossellini and Swedish global acting star Ingrid Bergman, 1950's "Stromboli," also happens to be the film that started an extramarital affair between the two. Although it would sprout a marriage and children, this scandal caused conservative groups in the US to ban the film, along with tainting Bergman's reputation as an actress in Hollywood. The film itself centers on a young Lithuanian woman who must marry an Italian ex-POW fisherman in order to escape internment in Italy. After taking her back to his home island of Stromboli, she faces disdain from the local community, which eventually creates a resentment from her new husband as well. The film is one of many films that Rossellini is able to execute a palpable tone. In this case being that of suffocation and inescapabilty, which eventually allows for no such release.
3. Germany Year Zero (1948)
While "Germany Year Zero" may be the weakest link of Robert Rossellini's unofficial war trilogy, it is not without many merits. The film continues Rossellini's work in the Italian neo-realist movement, however Rossellini utilizes more studio filming. It tells the story of a young boy who must wander the ruins of post-war Berlin in search of food and money for his family. Along the way, life only gets worse and worse for the boy until it ends in tragedy. Rossellini's portrayal of post-war Germany is a very bleak and depressing outlook. Many Germans did not like the film due to this immense pessimism. However, if you look at the film for what it is, a cold and gritty reality for many Germans facing death and poverty in the wake of utter destruction as they all try to cope in the best way they can, the film becomes a bleak snapshot of the ruins of the most causal war in the 20th century. The film is a document to post-war nihilism and melancholy.
2. Paisan (1946)
After the rousing success of 1945's "Rome Open City," Roberto Rossellini continued with the neo-realist style with another depiction of the liberation of Italy. With "Paisan," Rossellini tells six episodic stories all centering on the partnership between the American military and both the Italian military and its citizens. Each episode demonstrates how the war and its continuation creates a necessity for people to come together and help each other. Despite all the tragedy taking place all around the characters, it only brings them closer together and forces them into a shared empathy for their fellow human beings. It's a film filled with immense hope, while also acknowledging the immense suffering taking place right alongside this hope.
1. Rome, Open City (1945)
One of the most important films ever made, "Rome, Open City" was Roberto Rossellini's letter to the world about the trauma and horror of Nazi occupied Italy. If Luchino Visconti's 1943 film "Ossessione" lay the groundworks for the Italian neo-realist film movement, then "Rome, Open City" cemented it as one of the most significant film movements in history. The starkness of the film's themes and visual cinematography lays bare not only the uncomfortable truths of fascist oppression, but also lays bare the human soul of its characters. In moments of great strife and horror, these characters are able to define themselves. Their true nature is revealed through their integrity of cowardice. The tragedy of their story does not go to waste, nor does the tragedy of the real victims of this trauma. Rather, "Rome, Open City" becomes one of the most important documents of the war. Despite its fictional characters, it iterates the true heroism and integrity of the real victims who gave their life for their fellow citizen. The results are stark, the emotions are felt, and the film (along with its characters) are open and real.
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