Open City by Roberto Rossellini
“Open City” is a neo-realist film that followed the movement in Italy during World War 2. The film is neo-realistic because it has that ‘reality’ like feeling to it by following specific characters through their daily stressful lives that are screwed up from poverty and war. It has many qualities that make it in some ways ‘closer’ to the characters. While watching, the viewer is sucked into the story and immediately feeling emotional with the families and the other various characters in the film. The main reason is Rossellini’s choosing dramatic music and kids with big eyes.
This film is divided into two separate parts. First off is a story that shows a situation in Italy during the Nazi occupation of World War II. There are a couple of members of a secret underground movement that try to keep the Nazis away from them. This movement is made up of poor Italians, who are troubled by the war and other Nazi ideologies. One of the members of the revolutionist group is engaged to a mother of the young boy, and the wedding is about to take place in a matter of days. But all sorts of problems follow, and all of this is based on how the Nazis will finally catch up with these traitors. The second, more effective and emotional part of the film is a tragic melodrama.
At the beginning, the movie appears to be very dark and gloomy. This is shown from the riot at the bakery and the young revolutionist running away from authorities. There was so much trouble that the family went through to eat, and survive. The tension increases so smoothly yet it drives the nerves of the watcher during the family argument scene (which proves to be very effective).
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The only relief of any kind is portrayed by the younger generation. They are the only ones that manage to actually have explosives. Smart move by the director as the kids are the only sense of any kind of future since there was so much trouble the day the Nazi’s entered the OPEN CITY. Some more devastation is the mistreatment of women by Nazi soldiers when families are evacuated from their houses. The soldier still tried to molest the women despite her vulgar responses to his gripping. The following scene when the revolutionist was caught and taken by authorities had a very good build up to it. Rossolini showed us all the trouble in a matter of minutes and to add to it, the running of the woman towards the car her to-be-husband was arrested in. Yet, she got shot showing even further the aggression of the Nazi army.
As mentioned, the young kids are the hope and the only time the to be husband was saved was by the young boy distracting him. Russolini shows more of the kids being the saviors. At the very end shows hope as the kids walk towards the city. Basically ‘lifting the mood’ of the ending by showing the boys their future world will be brighter than the one into which they were born into.
The main problem with the copy we watched is the translations—they were incomplete. It maybe is nothing relevant to the film as a whole, but it drives curiosity to know just what those extra words were. This somehow accumulates throughout the movie making it a bit frustrating.
The movie is good by making things unbearable for the many characters. It really showed us how evil the Nazi occupation was like as in good people getting caught in betrayal, hunger, and the force of sadness and death. There is even a part where the Nazi-ism felt like it had a bit of lesbianism. Not that there is anything wrong with homosexuality, but the part when the sister was seduced by the same chick that was like an insider on the whereabouts of the ‘revolutionist’ men in the film.
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There is some emphasis on religion. This is expected, because after-all it was shot and directed by people from Italy! This religion aspect is shown through a priest character that is forced to face the possibility that the Nazis simply are evil. The priest realizes that he can’t fight these Nazi-guys using traditional prayer methods. Even earlier he tells the revolutionist that perhaps the occupation is a random punishment for the sins of Rome, which shows more religion-contrasts. The priest also makes a confession that he kept secret that the Nazis desire was spoken. This of course means the priest will never be able to speak but later on, the priest fears the rules of the confession and what they will shape. Basically as if he himself sinned by not telling the truth and lying.
More religion is shown in another scene. The scene starts with the priest standing in front of two statues, one of a naked woman and the other of Jesus. The statues are facing one another and then the priest turns them in opposite directions. This is very symbolic as it shows the contrast between the religious people and the fascists (that were the main threat during the war).
The statues symbolize the two opposites that are face to face in a confused, chaotic world—just like that of the war. A priest is a kind of person that would protect people he cares about. In this scene though he pointlessly attempts to protect the Jesus statue from the nakedness of the other statue the same way he tries to protect his friends from the ‘enemy’ or fascists. This is another good example of how Rossellini seems to be more of a documentary-style reality film.
This film was part of the Italian Neo-realism era that did not use standards in filmmaking. They used a few different elements like non-professional actors doing most of the minor roles. The film was mentioned in class to be shot in 1945 when the war was still occurring and it was great timing for shooting in Italy. Mainly because the scenery they used was real. In the long-run, the film’s main topic was based on a widely spoken about important issue at the time- war.
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Open City is one of the most interesting films due to many aspects. Mainly for giving a picture of a situation which at the time happened not too long before the end Nazi occupation and enhanced the effect by being a melodrama. At times the film felt like a documentary, but that’s what made it quite interesting as well. These historical facts guarantee that Rossellini’s film is important, even if not always perfect.
