#98: Rome, Open City

Rome, Open City (Rosselini, 1945)

Rome, Open City is a postwar film about the resistance against the Nazis in Italy. I just happened to see this film right after Army of Shadows, a movie made in the sixties about the resistance against the Nazis in France, and the contrast in styles unfortunately colored my perception of the movie. Where Army of Shadows is dark, emotional and realistic, Rome, Open City is unapologetically cinematic. Characters are split neatly along the good/evil dichotomy and everything is idealized. This is fine, but it was weird seeing it right after a movie that took the opposite approach.

It's hard for me to talk about my feelings about Rome, Open City without comparing it to Army of Shadows. In Army of Shadows when a man is torutred he looks utterly disfigured and mutilated. The man in Rome, Open City who is tortured looks like he's just been in a bar fight. In Army of Shadows, the characters have to murder their friends for naming names to the Nazis. In Rome Open City, nobody ever folds under torture, and Nazis are willing to debate you about the morarlity of giving them information. They're very upset that an Italian can resist torture. It means Italians are equal to Germans! Rome Open City is a great movie, but the unavoidable contrast to a far more realistic account of Nazi occupation makes it hard to see it on it's own merits.

Trying to be objective, the movie has great acting, great directing, and a lot of really good dialog. The movie came out right after World War II, so I figure it's intent was to heal some of the national wounds left by the war. (Whereas the intent of Army of Shadows was for a director to show the audience a difficult period of his life.)

Rome, Open City: **** / 5
Army of Shadows: **** / 5

62/101

I've gotten a little behind on reviews. I've also watched Bicycle Thieves, Jules and Jim, and Letter From An Unknown Woman. I'll try to catch up in the next few days.