Analysis of: Roberto Rossellini’s Open City

Analysis of: Roberto Rossellini’s Open City

  • Submitted By: nnoelh
  • Date Submitted: 03/09/2009 4:44 PM
  • Category: History Other
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Analysis of: Roberto Rossellini’s Open City
Roberto Rossellini’s Open City, a very powerful film about the Italian Resistance movement against the Nazis during their occupation, was created in the war torn streets of Rome in 1945. Rossellini had little to work with, but with what he had, he created a masterpiece. He used a unique style, in the direction of a documentary, which told a story that is still relevant, even to its viewers today.
The film takes place in Rome and begins with Nazi officers, under the control of Bergmann, attempting to arrest a man deeply involved in the Resistance, Giorgio Manfredi. Manfredi manages to evade the officers and goes to the apartment of Francesco hoping to find help in getting money to other resistance fighters. Instead of finding Francesco, Manfredi encounters his fiancé, Pina, a widowed woman. Pina then tells her son, Marchello, to get Don Pietro, a priest who has agreed to participate in the money transfer. The next day, the day of Francesco and Pina’s wedding, German officers search through their apartment building. Manfredi once again evades discovery and flees to the home of his former lover, an actress named Marina. Francesco, however, is taken for questioning and Pina, frantically running after him, is killed. After being turned in by Marina, Manfredi, Don Pietro, and a third man are captured by Bergmann’s officers and are questioned and tortured in regards to information about the identities of some prominent Resistance leaders. The men never reveal the information, but unfortunately all end up dead at the end. The message that Rossellini is trying to convey through this film is that these people had a strong desire to persevere and overcome all of the atrocity that they had experienced and that through all of this remained a sense of care and pride among them.
Open City is characterized as a neorealist film, the first Italian film of its kind. Neorealist films can be described by their cast of...

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