Rome Open City
Rome Open City • 1h 43m
Directed by Roberto Rossellini • 1945 • Italy
Starring Aldo Fabrizi, Anna Magnani, Marcello Pagliero
This was Roberto Rossellini’s revelation, a harrowing drama about the Nazi occupation of Rome and the brave few who struggled against it. Though told with more melodramatic flair than the films that would follow it to form The War Trilogy and starring some well-known actors—Aldo Fabrizi as a priest helping the partisan cause and Anna Magnani in her breakthrough role as the fiancée of a resistance member—ROME OPEN CITY is a shockingly authentic experience, conceived and directed amid the ruin of World War II, with immediacy in every frame. Marking a watershed moment in Italian cinema, this galvanic work garnered awards around the globe and left the beginnings of a new film movement in its wake.
Up Next in Rome Open City
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ROME OPEN CITY Commentary
Recorded in 1995, this commentary features film scholar Peter Bondanella, author of “The Films of Roberto Rossellini.”
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Roberto Rossellini on ROME OPEN CITY
The following introduction to ROME OPEN CITY by Roberto Rossellini was made for French television in 1963.
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Once Upon a Time . . . ROME OPEN CITY
This 2006 documentary by Marie Genin and Serge July sheds light on ROME OPEN CITY, a groundbreaking film that came at just the right historical moment, and on the man behind it. Featured are rare archival material and footage of Roberto Rossellini’s family and collaborators, including Anna Magnan...
