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Fascism Freedom of Speech Human Rights Italy Italian Neo-Realism Poverty Prejudice Torture World War II

Open City comes to us straight from the heart of Italian Neo-Realism. It's shot in Rome shortly after it was liberated from the nazis and, as a result, the sets and many of the performers still bear the scars and vivid memories of the events depicted. That's Realism. These people understand exactly what they're trying to convey; no need for method or even a lot of consideration. Sergio Amidei is credited for the story on this one though F.Fellini is given credit on the dialogue. Fellini did help write many of the stories behind the Neo Realist films. Parts of this are shot in a stark and realistic "documentaryesque" format that's just effective as hell.

This film begins with a small squad of nazi's marching through the town square. A few S.S. men knock on a door and a head peeks out from the window in an apartment above. Giorgio Manfredi sneaks out of the house, over the rooftops, just a few steps ahead of the nazi's downstairs. They enter and ask the housekeeper if Giorgio is there. The woman says he's not but they begin a search of the house anyway. The phone rings and one of nazi's answers it. Cut to lovely woman at the other end of the line. She asks for Giorgio and is told he's not at home. When she asks who she's talking to, the reply is "a friend". The nazi's go upstairs to the roof to look around.

Cut to Major Bergmann and the Police Commissioner standing in front of a map planning repression. There's a knock at the door; a uniformed thug enters and lets the Major know that they've received a phone call; Giorgio is nowhere to be found. The Major pulls some photos from his desk and shows the commissioner a photo of a man who he believes to be Giorgio Manfredi. The commissioner explains that he thought that Manfredi was denounced as a leader of The National Liberation Front. Bergmann believes that Giorgio is the same man and has another picture that proves that he fought alongside the "Reds". They spend a few minutes discussing Manfredi and the woman in the photo who Bergmann believes to be an actress named Marina Mari. Suddenly, there are screams in the next room. When questioned, a goon explains that they're interrogating "that professor". Bergmann makes a light-hearted quip about the amount of noise Italians make when they're tortured.

Cut to the street and chaos at a breadline. Here we meet Pina who leaves with one of the local constabulary. He walks her home and asks her along the way if she believes that Americans really exist. Cut to Pina on the stairway. Giorgio is standing on the landing and explains that he's a friend of Francesco's. When she's decided that the guy isn't a "cop", she lets him into the apartment where he tells her that he needs to see Don Pietro. Pina calls for her son Marcello and, when he arrives, asks him to run get Don Pietro for her. Pina's sister Lauretta stops by and it seems that she knows Giorgio's girlfriend Marina. He asks Lauretta to convey the message that he can't see her just yet.

Privately, Giorgio tells Pina a bit later that he intends to break things off with Marina. The two sit for a while and discuss recent events and life under the nazi rule. Cut to a playground and schoolboys playing a game of soccer with Don Pietro. Marcello shows up and explains to Pietro that his mother needs to speak to him. They walk through the church and, on the way home, discuss revolution while Pina and Giorgio are back at the apartment having coffee and discussing her plans to marry Francesco.

When Don Pietro gets to the apartment, he and Giorgio discuss plans for the revolution and it's decided that Don Pietro must carry a message since Manfredi has been denounced and can't really risk showing his face. Cut to Don Pietro shopping for religious statuettes. He mentions to the salesman that he needs to speak with Francesco and the two exchange a few code words. Downstairs, Pietro tells everyone about the S.S. visit to Manfredi's place. They give him a large sum of money, bound into books, and tell him he needs to deliver it.

Cut to Marina backstage in her dressing room at the theater. She seems slightly upset and a little nervous. When she's done with her makeup she paces back and forth in the small room. There's a knock at the door. It's Lauretta. She says she saw Manfredi at Pina's apartment a bit earlier and delivers his message. The two talk for a while in their undies and Lauretta tells Marina that she wants to move in with her. As Marina dresses for the show there's a knock at the door. It's Ingrid, everyone's friend. Unbeknownst to everyone in the room. Ingrid is a a nazi sympathizer who's also a lesbian that has some evil plans for Lauretta. It seems you just can't trust anyone these days.

It should take just a few scenes before this film makes you angry. It won't stop making you angry until you click the off button on your DVD player. This features all sorts of intrigue, many complex and not so complex subplots, scenes of torture, screams, invasions of privacy of any sort you can imagine and basically tells one aspect of the story of the nazi occupation of Rome. This aspect includes many attempts at a revolution, a few small successes and many losses against overwhelming odds. This movie has little to no warmth to it. Despite that, I can easily say it's one of the more powerful films I've ever seen. This is the film that launched Rossellini's career and it's easy to tell why.

The performances are wonderful; even Pietro eventually gets animated. The filmwork is exceptional. Open City has a combination noir/documentary look to some scenes that gives the film a sort of hyper-real effect. The glitches, flickers and noise combine to heighten that and actually add a lot to the feel of the film rather than detracting from it. Personally, I'd add this to my "essential" list.

Open City won the Grand Prix at Cannes in 1946 as well as giving Sergio Amidei and F. Fellini a nomination for the writing at the Academy.