Film Review: Rome, Open City (Roma città aperta, 1945)

The First World War established and the Second World War confirmed the hegemony of Hollywood over all other cinema industries in the world. However, the end of the Second World War also marked something of a rebirth of the Italian film industry, which would in the next few decades not only give Hollywood a run for its money, but also briefly challenge its supremacy. This achievement is even more impressive, considering the sorry state of war-ravaged Italy, which affected the production of Rome, Open City, a 1945 war drama directed by Roberto Rossellini, a film often seen as the first great international triumph of Italian cinema and the very first work of the Italian neorealist film movement.

The term “open city” in the title refers to the formal status of Rome, which the Italian government, in accordance with the Geneva Conventions, declared not to be defended militarily in August 1943, hoping to spare the population and cultural artefacts from Allied bombings. A few weeks later, Italy formally surrendered to the Allies, which resulted in Nazi Germany promptly occupying large sections of its former ally, including the capital, which would remain under German rule for the next nine months.

The plot takes place in early 1944 and begins when Luigi Ferraris (played by Marcello Pagliero), one of the leading members of the Communist resistance, barely avoids being arrested by SS troops sent by Gestapo Major Bergmann (played by Harry Feist). He takes shelter in the home of Francesco (played by Francesco Grandjaquet), another resistance member who is about to marry his girlfriend, the pregnant widow Pina (played by Anna Magnani). The couple are going to be formally wed by Don Pietro Pellegrini (played by Aldo Fabrizzi), a parish priest who also helps the resistance. Unlike Pina, who is a devout Catholic and completely dedicated to her young son Marcello (played by Vito Annichiarico), Pina’s sister Lauretta (played by Carla Rovere) prefers the good life, which is provided by her career as an entertainer in a cabaret frequented by German and fascist Italian officers. Lauretta’s friend and colleague Marina (played by Maria Michi) happens to be Luigi’s lover, a fact that would be used by Marina’s friend Ingrid (played by Giovanna Galletti), a ruthless female Gestapo operative.

There are various accounts of when and how Rome, Open City originated, and some claim that work on the script began while Rome was still under occupation. In any case, actual preparations for production began shortly after Allied troops liberated the city, which allowed Rossellini and three other writers – Sergio Amidei, Federico Fellini and Alberto Consiglio – to write the script. The production began in January 1945, while the war was still going on, and continued until June 1945, a few weeks after the war’s end. Conditions under which Rossellini and the rest of the crew worked were extremely difficult. Many of the features of Neorealist films – use of locations instead of studio sets, non-professional actors, depictions of poverty – were brought about by necessity rather than by Rossellini’s deliberate artistic decision. The biggest issue, apart from finances, was the lack of proper film stock, a problem partly alleviated by Rod E. Geiger, a US Army Signal Corps soldier who supported Rome, Open City by borrowing supplies at his disposal and thus becoming the de facto producer of the film.

Although the disclaimer at the beginning states that the characters and events in the film are fictitious, historians can easily recognise at least some characters as being based on real personalities. Pina and her fate match that of a real-life woman named Teresa Gullace, while the character of Don Pietro is modelled on the Catholic priest Don Giuseppe Morosini. Made while the war was still going on, Rome, Open City can be seen as a propaganda piece, in many ways representing the views of the Italian anti-fascist government. Almost all Italian characters are represented as victims of fascism or patriots; Allied troops that liberated the country are hardly mentioned, and the resistance to the occupiers gathers people belonging to various factions, with Catholics and Communists, despite their deep ideological differences, finding ways to work together against a common foe. This is underlined near the finale when Luigi and Don Pietro are joined in martyrdom.

Rome, Open City, again in line with the official line that preached a policy of national reconciliation in post-war years, hardly shows Italian fascists and pins the blame for all atrocities on the Germans, represented by the evil and sadistic Bergmann, obviously modelled on Herbert Kappler, the infamous real-life chief of the Gestapo in occupied Rome. German characters are not only shown as uncaring, sadistic and arrogant in their racist attitudes towards their former allies, but also as depraved. This is most explicit in the character of Ingrid, brilliantly played by Giovanna Galletti, who is portrayed as androgynous and whose relationship with Marina might be interpreted as lesbian. This established an Italian cinema trope that connects fascism with sexual perversion, and which would find its most extreme expression in 1970s films like Bertolucci’s 1900 or Salon Kitty. This scene, references to Marina’s drug use, and even the brief semi-comical scene showing Don Pietro’s displeasure with a statue of a nude woman being displayed near a statue of a Catholic saint represent content that was impossible to find in Hollywood films at the time, still constrained by the heavy censorship of the Hays Code.

Rossellini, considering all the limitations of production, did a very good job with Rome, Open City, although the film looks rough around the edges. That could be attributed to different film stocks, the occasional use of a handheld camera that affects the coherence of style, but the biggest flaw is the uninspired music score by Rossellini’s brother, Renzo Rossellini. On the other hand, there is almost nothing bad to say about the acting. Aldo Fabrizzi, one of the most formidable character actors of Italian cinema, delivers a powerful performance in the role of Don Pietro. Anna Magnani, one of the grand divas of 20th-century Italian cinema, plays the most iconic role of her career, despite her character disappearing in the middle of the film.

Rome, Open City had its premiere a few months after the end of the war. The Italian public didn’t like it, which is somewhat understandable, because viewers didn’t want to be further reminded of poverty, devastation, and other war-related misery and instead preferred escapist entertainment. The film fared much better in America, thanks to Geiger, who brought it to New York, where it won the hearts and minds of critics and later got a nomination for an Oscar for Best Screenplay. Its triumph became complete the next year when Rossellini won the Grand Prix at the first Cannes Film Festival. Rossellini later made two films in the same style - Paisan and Germany, Year Zero - that would, together with Rome, Open City, form the so-called “Neorealist trilogy”. Soon, many Italian filmmakers began to mimic his style and themes, making Neorealism fashionable along with Italian cinema.

RATING: 7/10 (+++)

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