Open City

The effect of a war can be calculated in loss of life, millions of dollars spent in rebuilding, and even the long-term impact on the people who survived and must move on. That effect has to be more pronounced in countries where the actual fighting took place, especially Europe in WWII.  This was a war that was unlike anything seen before and basically left a whole continent in ruins.  In Italy, the profound impact of the war eventually impacted the movie industry, producing a genre of films known as Italian neorealism.

The film that truly put Italian neorealism on an international level was 1945's Open City from director Roberto Rossellini. These were films that represented the time they were made in.  Neorealism put the camera down in the streets as part of the stories.  They were stories of the poor and the working class, the people who were most affected by the war as their lives were traumatized, their families killed, their homes destroyed.  The movies reflected those feelings.  They were not happy go lucky stories that tried to force people to move on. They are incredibly dark in tone with realistic sounding to me like the best description around. Remarkable films, one any movie fan should watch.

It's Rome 1944 and resistance fighter Manfredi (Marcello Pagliero) is on the run from German forces in the city. He's running out of places to hide though, and it looks like it will only be a matter of time before the Germans close in for good.  The rest of his family tries to survive in their own way, his sister Pina (Anna Magnani) preparing for her wedding to Francesco (Francesco Grandjacquet), but even then the Germans may intervene as part of their search for Manfredi.  Helping pull strings and lead the resistance as best as he can, an Italian priest, Don Pietro (Aldo Fabrizi) tirelessly keeps working to aid the cause, all the while risking his own life.

In any war where an invading army occupies another country/city/village, there is almost a certainty that a resistance will rise up and try to drive the invaders out.  In terms of storytelling at its most basic, there are few things more dramatic than a small group of fighters going toe to toe with an opponent that has more men, more supplies, more everything at their disposal.  Just on the basis of sheer courage and bravery, it can be hard to comprehend what these resistance fighters really accomplished, often at a great cost in life.  Too often, the overwhelming numbers they faced did become too much and they were wiped out.  It's that rare movie that shows resistance fighters in all their plight. It rarely ended well for these men and women. What often rose out of the ashes though was more fighters, more individuals joining the cause as they saw these heroic people sacrifice everything for what they believed in.

Above all else -- story, filmmaking techniques -- is what is so successful about Open City. This isn't a glamorous fight with superhero citizens able to mow down German soldiers by the truckload. These are everyday people working in the alleys and shadows to drive the Germans out of their towns. It's Pina, desperately trying to save her fiance from a German patrol. It's Manfredi moving from house to house and apartment to apartment always trying to stay one step ahead of the always charging German soldiers.  It's Don Pietro using his status as a figurehead in the community to aid the cause, knowing if he is caught his place as a priest will mean nothing.  Director Roberto Rossellini makes an incredibly personal, visceral movie that gives you a picture of the horrors and realities of war like few other directors have.

Released in 1945, it would have been easy for Rossellini and the screenwriters to paint in broad strokes here to characterize the Italians and Germans, and to a point, he does.  The Italians are presented in a mostly positive light while the Germans -- especially Harry Feist's Major Bergman -- are the bad guys but rarely in a cartoonish, exaggerated fashion.  Of course, the Germans in their actions were typically cartoonishly evil, but it's not necessarily the case here. Instead of just saying they're evil or bad, Rossellini shows us through their actions, especially a painful, honest depiction of torture and interrogation. In theaters months after the end of the war, it's hard to comprehend what audiences must have felt when they saw a shelf full of instruments used to get information out of people, hearing the screaming in the other room.  Talking about fresh wounds in 1945, these are incredible scenes to watch some 60-plus years later.

On to things that are easier to analyze, the movie as a movie.  The neorealism is a breath of fresh air in an age of big budgets and ridiculous CGI. Rossellini filmed in war-torn Rome so right off the bat, you get a sense of actually being caught up in WWII.  He shoots in black and white, giving Open City a stark, scarred look.  And on top of that, he's working with a small budget, but it all clicks and works seamlessly. The ending is heartbreaking SPOILERS STOP READING SPOILERS as Don Pietro is eventually caught but refuses to give up the information the Germans want. Executed by a firing squad, the boys he teaches see him die, only to return to the city, walking back into Rome. Depressing and realistic? You bet, but as is so often the case with stories like this, the children represent the remnant, the hope for the future to continue the fight. It's just a great movie.

Open City <---trailer (1945): *** 1/2 /****