Micitype Pretty Good

Pluskylang Great Film overall

Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

Hayden Kane There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Dario Vaccaro "Roma Città Aperta" is between the most important movies in the history of Italian cinema. It is not only one of the initiators and masterpieces of Italian neorealism, but also a beautiful story of courage, rebellion against blind evil and faith. I can't really relate to the faith part, as my ideas are much different from those spread by Don Pietro, but the -let's say- secular part moved me much more than I thought it would, especially the iconic race where Pina tries to get her husband back from the Nazis. She is so frantic and desperate in pursuing the impossible goal of running away from all that darkness, a small tear piled up in my eyes. Even the Nazis are not depicted in such a black-or-white manner, seeing a couple of them actually realizing, as their colleagues threaten, beat and murder, that they belong to no higher race after all. The only flaw is at the end, where actual facts are changed so that it appears that the Nazi general pulled the trigger on the priest, while it was not so (the Italian government imposed to the production to present it this way to prevent possible agitations). So I'd say that Sergio Amidei's script is a truly heartbreaking, thought-provoking piece that deserves its fame in Italy and elsewhere. Rossellini is a great director, he technically invented (alongside maybe Luchino Visconti) Italian neorealism with this film, but knowing that he actually directed movies for the fascist regime beforehand doesn't let me love his hand behind the camera when he shoots a story against the Axis. Acting. Anna Magnani and Aldo Fabrizi easily steal the show, actually they take it by right, as their characters existed in real life (more or less, as in any work of fiction) and their duty was to make their memory last forever: they did, beautifully.

Scott44 ***Howard Schumann ("Powerful Portrayal of Dignity and Courage", Howard Schumann from Vancouver, B.C., 24 April 2002) has essential background on the filming and good criticism. Also, Claudio Carvalho ("Masterpiece of the Italian Neo-Realism", Claudio Carvalho from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2 April 2006) adds insight on how it was made. And, B24 ("Nice Piece of Work for its Time", B24 from Arizona, 10 May 2006) has good insight on the German speakers. Finally, federovsky ("Great film, however you classify it", federovsky from bangkok, 30 April 2008) has an excellent review.***"Rome, Open City (1945, Roberto Rossellini)", a return to Nazi- occupied Italy, is potent. While not the first example of Italian Neorealism, it is usually described as the one that inspired the rest. "Open City" has some flaws, but it is so brutal and stark that you likely will leave the theater stunned. Rossellini deserves credit for completing it. It was filmed on a shoestring budget as the Nazis began to leave Rome, ending their military occupation. (Rossellini used scraps of film left behind by the retreating German forces.) A mixture of experienced and novice actors are used. It is perhaps not a trivial detail to mention that one of the contributors to the writing, and the uncredited Second Unit director was a young Federico Fellini.The story revolves around the pursuit of a resistance hero (portrayed by Marcello Pagliero) by the Fascists. The Nazis are very ruthless here. Eventually, there are several torture scenes which don't show much of the painful details, but imply what is being done to the victim. The torture scenes and the inclusion of Italian collaborators with the occupying Germans is cutting edge for 1945.Rossellini also indulges in one of his favorite things to do: Killing animals for the entertainment of the cinematic audience. Having seen him also do this in "Stromboli" (1950), this is my biggest peeve with him. While the audience does not see either of the two sheep actually being shot, there is no doubt they both were while the camera was operating and the crew watched. Sure I am angry about this, but this is only a small part of "Open City". This film remains essential viewing. I just wish someone had challenged Rossellini by informing him that any idiot can point a camera in this direction to wake the audience up. An elite filmmaker would not need to resort to this. Overall, the acting is outstanding. Fabrizi as the priest, Magnani as the young widow, Pagliero as resistance hero and Francesco Grandjacquet as the kind Francesco are all probably legends to Italians. However, the woman portraying the lesbian spy doesn't really work for me; she is too one-dimensional in her speech. It has been mentioned by other reviewers that "Open City's" chief flaw when viewing it today is seeing very homosexual, decadent Nazis relaxing in a lavish chamber. The lesbian subplot is noticeably over-the-top. Western culture has evolved much with regards to LGBT preferences, and "Open City" is not strong here.While it is easy to find flaws when viewing this from a twenty-first century prism, we should recall that Rossellini has always held a commanding perch in Italian cinema. One of his more famous admirers is my choice for cinema's greatest actress, Ingrid Bergman. (During "Stromboli", Bergman broke up her especially rich collaboration with Alfred Hitchcock to become Rossellini's lover and leading actress.) Rosselini deserves respect as a pioneer of neo-realism. His techniques effectively depict the misery of life. Because "Open City" is as unsparing as the real occupation, and resistance fighters are immortalized while traitors are revealed, it likely inspired great pride with the Italian public emerging from its collective nightmare.While Rossellini is often described as filming "Open City," like a documentary, the opposite is true. For example, the Germans will shoot a much beloved woman running after the truck driven by the Gestapo as they arrest her Italian fiancé. The perspective is from the retreating car; the view of the fiancé. Rossellini is identifying point of view, which is supposedly a no-no in documentaries. Rossellini will also arrange objects in his interiors to move the story along. (How about the wild looking chair that the tipsy Nazi is sitting in when his lone voice speaks against the barbarity of his class?) The director once said, "I try to capture reality, nothing else (Rossellini)". However, he certainly is manipulating reality to achieve his results.The use of foreshadowing is particularly memorable. For example, an early scene with Don Pietro Pellegrini (Aldo Fabrizi), the heroic priest, shows him being hit in the head by a falling soccer ball as young schoolboys around him laugh. There is Pina's introduction (Anna Magnani) when she emerges from a bread riot almost too dizzy to stand. The two sheep will predict two subsequent fatalities, etc. With some quibbles, the narrative is written well.Despite its weaknesses, "Open City," is a must-see for cinephiles. The courage to resist Fascism in defiance of its sheer brutality inspires democracy activists today. Let's not forget that the current US government sponsors torture. Also, the US President has renewed a law which he claims grants him the right to execute or indefinitely detain US citizens. "Rome, Open City," is very relevant in this time.

snideelf First time I've seen this. Great dialog. I liked the scene where one of the German officers who has had too much to drink just comes out and tells everyone that the Germans are just mass murderers. I did not expect that from this movie which was somehow made in 1945. I thought the end was dumb because you have a German officer telling a squad of Italians armed with loaded rifles to execute an Italian priest who refused to talk. Italians in those days were more loyal to the Catholic Church so I was hoping that the squad of Italian executioners would have just turned and aimed their rifles at the German officer and those 2 Italian collaborators wearing trench coats. That would have made for a better ending. Unless of course this movie is based on a true story in which case it had to be told the way it really happened and not the way the audience would have liked it to end. Good movie. End could have been better. You have to give people hope in a hopeless world.

Ilpo Hirvonen After WWII filmmakers tried to find their ways to deal with history. A British director Humphrey Jennings made evocative documentaries about WWII and Americans made more romantic features about the war from their perspective. Here Italy comes in. The nation which had just got away from the chains of fascist management. Today this postwar Italian movement is known as neorealism, which is recognized from its reportage-like characterization, national personal gallery and dramatization of the resistance. But it cannot only be described by these external aesthetic features. The starting points in Italian neorealism were in the anti-fascist battle and the Italian liberalization.The people who formed neorealism, Vittorio De Sica, Luchino Visconti, Roberto Rosselini and many others, wanted to bring Italy back to the midst of other nations. They wanted to find their own way of dealing with the history. Narratively the way was the documentary, reportage-like characterization. The shady cinematography combined with the daring description of Italians. Even today Open City is praised as the symbol of the resistance and the picture of the character played by Anna Magnani was actually published in a stamp after 50 years in Italy. Her character became the symbol of the resistance.Film historians often tend to argue, who actually started neorealism. In 1943 Luchino Visconti directed Ossessione, which at least aesthetically looks like the work of a neorealist. Which probably is true, but neorealism is seen as a postwar genre and since the WWII ended in 1945, the statement that Ossessione would've began the movement is weak. But it most certainly did give it a start and the ingredients. Some also state that De Sica's Bicycle Thieves (1948) is the greatest film of neorealism. I think that Bicycle Thieves is a masterpiece, but when defining what neorealism actually is Rosselini's reportage-like characterization works better than De Sica's lyricism. Open City is the first film, which finely defined neorealism.Open City is perhaps the most personal film by Rosselini. It was written under the watchful eyes of the fascist management, where the risk of getting arrested was always near. This made Rosselini and the other screenwriter Sergio Amidei feel like they were a part of the resistance - what would be greater than to write your own page to history? When young Federico Fellini (today the most famous of the team) joined the crew, they started to film it with an incredibly low budget. Roberto Rosselini has said: "Open City achieved more than all the efforts of the Italian Foreign Ministry put together. It helped Italy to find its own place among other nations." Rome Open City is a picture of its own time, it's a landmark in the history of cinema. In both the WWII genre and in Italian neorealism, which influenced the Japanese postwar cinema (Kurosawa, Ichikawa) and the Nouvelle Vague - French New Wave (Godard, Truffaut, Rivette, Chabrol & Rohmer). It's a cry for democracy and freedom. It is a hopeful picture of Italy free from the chains of the fascists. It meant a totally new way of dealing with the history. Open City was a very ambitious film, but it succeed in all of its intentions. It is still a timeless masterpiece.