L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015 www.italoamericano.com L'Italo-Americano 2 SS troops are trying to arrest the engineer Giorgio Manfredi, a communist and a leader of the Resistance against the Nazis and Fascists, who is staying in a rooming house. Eventually his pregnant widow Pina (the amaz- ing Anna Magnani) is about to m a r r y h i s h u s b a n d ' s f r i e n d Francesco, while her older son, Marcello, is an altar boy secretly part of a children's underground a r m y . T h e p r i e s t D o n P i e t r o helps his community but is also part of the Resistance. In the end, the betrayal that hits the community it's represented by a young woman who tells herself she no longer loves anyone. The story was based on real stories happened during World W a r T w o i n R o m e a n d t h e famous scene in which Anna M a g n a n i i s m u r d e r e d b y machine-gun fire as she runs after her fiancé, was inspired by the shooting of a pregnant moth- er of five in front of her husband. T h e s c r i p t w a s w r i t t e n b y Sergio Amidei, but at the time a y o u n g F e d e r i c o F e l l i n i c o n - tributed with gags and humorous d i a l o g u e w h i c h e n r i c h e d t h e movie with human vitality. The movie, although, is also full of drama and the contrast between everyday life moments, their humor and then the final brutal killing brings the spectator deep- er into the film's hopeful mes- sage and its insistence not to look away from the violence that is being shown: Pina's son, Don Pietro and a crowd of neighbors witness her murder; the Nazis m a k e D o n P i e t r o o b s e r v e Manfredi's death; and the chil- dren's army forms an audience for Don Pietro's execution. The result is a brilliant and capturing sense of history and life, as if what Rossellini filmed was real and intensely perfect in its drama and sadness. In Italy the film became a box-office success, and it was a g r e a t h i t i n t h e U . S . A t t h e Cannes Film Festival, it won the Grand Prix and for the directors of the French New Wave, Mr. Rossellini's work became an essential touchstone. "All roads lead to Rome Open City," Jean- Luc Godard wrote in 1959. Today, it is surprising that a f t e r 7 0 y e a r s , " R o m e O p e n City" is still a vivid work of art able to move, shock and enchant viewers through its indelible images that live in the heart of everyone: children silhouetted in the darkness in front of an explo- sion; the flowing cassocks of D o n P i e t r o a n d M a r c e l l o a s Marcello is pulled kicking and screaming away from his moth- er's body; the prophetic slaughter of the two sheep seen through a r e s t a u r a n t w i n d o w ; t h e b o y s embracing as they walk away from Don Pietro's execution, toward a brighter future. Born of wartime trauma and a desire for unity in the new Italy that would come, "Roma città aperta" hasn't still lost its power. "Oh, it's not hard to die well. It's hard to live well." These are the famous words pronounced by the priest Don Pietro Pellegrini (played by Aldo Fabrizi) at the e n d o f R o b e r t o R o s s e l l i n i ' s " R o m a c i t t à a p e r t a " ( " R o m e Open City"), today still powerful and touching lines. The movie was shot a few months after Rome was liberated from the Nazi occupation, with a very little budget, non profes- sional actors as well as well trained actors, and scavenged film stock. The premises weren't great, but the result turned out to be incredibly successful: the movie in fact became a landmark in the world movie scenery and brought Italian Neorealism to world-wide attention. R e c e n t l y e v e n P o p e Francesco expressed his admira- tion for "Rome Open City", a movie that still touches con- sciences and inspires hope. Until last year, it was only possible to watch the movie in poor-quality prints, but then the Cineteca Nazionale - Fondazione S c u o l a N a z i o n a l e d i Cinematografia, Coproduction O f f i c e a n d I s t i t u t o L u c e Cinecittà – restored it in a new digital version now available to the public. The movie opens in an occu- pied Rome, an "open city" after 14 August 1943, where German The amazing Anna Magnani in the famous scene of "Roma città aperta" "Rome Open City", after 70 years still a masterpiece that moves and surprises GIULIA LOUISE STEIGERWALT

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