Rome, Open City (1945)

Italy 105m, B&W
Director: Roberto Rossellini; Cast: Aldo Fabrizi, Anna Magnani, Marcello Pagliero, Vito Annicchiarico

Rome, Open City is a dark anti-fascist drama set in 1944 Italy in which a priest, Don Pietro Pellegrini, becomes the unwilling spectator to the violent interrogation of his friend Giorgio Manfredi – a member of the Italian resistance who is betrayed by his former girlfriend. Pietro’s final appeal to authorities, that it is not wrong for anyone to help others, falls on deaf ears with tragic consequences. Part of Roberto Rossellini’s war trilogy, Rome, Open City’s post-war realism stands in contrast to Hollywood war films of the period (Klaus Ming February 2012).