ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED FEBRUARY 11, 2003:

To this day, Rome stands as a testament to the civilization of man. Of course, any historian or anthropologist can rattle off cities pre-dating Rome and go on to tell you about their vast importance in bringing us to where we are today. The name of this ancient Italian city, however, reverberates down the corridor of time to still flow from the lips of just about anybody who has taken third grade geography. With Julius Caesar, gladiators, Constantine, and the great empire which bore Rome as its nucleus to name a few, the city has accumulated many stories to tell, all of which have profoundly influenced our societies from then to now. If Rome, Open City merely told another tale of Rome's rich history, it would still probably be a noble cinematic achievement. Instead, Open City delves into the rebellious world of the Italian Neo-Realism movement and gives us not only another story from the annals of Rome's past, but delivers a story of a city raped by the evil men occupying her (Open City is a literal reference to this rape) and of a collection of souls trying to persevere and overcome in dark times. Because of this extra effort, Rome, Open City survives its 60 years of near-obscurity to remain of the finest Italian films ever made.

Roberto Rossellini's Open City stands as the keystone to the neo-realism movement. Shot mere weeks after the liberation of Rome on ruined streets, without the aid of a studio, using whatever bits of film they could muster and join together Rossellini recounted the tale of the Italian resistance and the events that transpired around them less than three years prior. Using Rome's own downtrodden citizens and decaying surroundings was initially a combination of happenstance and Rossellini's desire to do service to the people of Rome with barebones truth.   As Rossellini worked on Open City, it is quite unlikely he was thinking of how the piece would revolutionize Italian film with its realism, and far more likely he was concerned with how he could best show a battle fatigued world this tragic tale of self-sacrifice and courage. Rossellini shows us great horrors and downfalls in Open City, and they are made all the more realistic as shots abruptly cut away at that precise moment when we, as an onlooker, would have turned our heads away in fear, denial, or pain. Yet even more often, Rossellini peppers the story with scenes where we witness characters display the most amazing array of virtues, emotions, and merits.

The movie plays like a veritable relay race of honor and firm resolve as, one by one, we are introduced and grow close to a member of the resistance only to have them cross whatever finish line fate has decreed for them. The torch of defiance is then passed to the next hero until, finally, the race is over and the audience sits in the bleachers, uncertain of the outcome but knowing Don Pietro and his allies are the true victors. Rossellini's genius lay not in striving to manufacture emotions for people to feel, but in embracing the heartache and hope in Rome and its denizens and merely inserting his players and his plot amidst the turmoil. Even on his poor film stock, with his questionable cinematography and imperfect sound, truth remains truth. That which is real does not become fantasy when viewed through the lens of a camera. Perhaps Rossellini was one of the first directors to realize this.

Open City features Anna Magnani as Pina, the pregnant fiancée of an underground revolutionary with enough brass herself to play a part in the subterfuge and opposition of the Nazi occupancy. The spotlight follows Pina early on as she protects her lover Francesco (Francesco Grandjacquet) and they both protect Giorgio Manfredi (Marcello Pagliero), a leader in their struggle who is currently being hunted by the Germans. Eventually, the Nazis raid the apartments the resistance and these characters are headquartered at. This occurs ironically on Pina and Francesco's wedding day, punctuating the unraveling of all the hopes and good fortune the audience has seen built up in the first act. From this point, the central character of the story becomes Don Pietro Pellegrini (Aldo Fabrizi), a Catholic priest who has decided his servitude to God would best be fulfilled as a fellow rebel. When Francesco and Manfredi escape the Germans, it is Don Pietro they go to for help. The three men plot their next course of action, but before they can flee Rome, Manfredi's lover betrays them and Manfredi and Don Pietro are captured. The final shift of the plot involves these men's defiance of their captors and the inevitable end they must meet.

The movie, which originally intended to relate the very real story of Don Morosini (the basis for Pietro), paints each of its characters as incarnations of an individual quality. Each role is designed specifically to deliver the film's message from one emotional angle or another. The heroes of the film: Pina, Manfredi, Don Pietro respectively represent self-sacrificing love, stalwart fortitude, and steadfastness through faith. The Nazis and Manfredi's mistress are portrayed as brutal, lecherous, substance abusing, and materialistic to the point of spiritual atrophy. The cast forms a moral compass which tracks Rossellini's personal opinion on the good and evil in occupied Rome throughout the course of the film.

Rossellini accomplishes a great deal with Open City considering the unconventional steps he took in production. Aside from Anna Magnani and Aldo Fabrizi, the players in the film were all non-professionals. Rossellini throws typical concepts of filler material out the window as insignificant events share importance with plot-forwarding ones. These "microactions" on film could have easily bogged down the pace of the picture and caused disastrous results. Instead, they are integrated so subtly and seamlessly with the primary action that, like in real life, they barely register on the senses but add nonetheless to the atmosphere of the story's progression. Open City stakes claim on very early use of blended moods in scenes, combining fevered suspense in the same breath as comedy. Comic relief is a tool as old as drama, but Open City abandons the structure of releasing high tension with a comic occurrence directly ensuing the suspense and would rather volley the absurd and anxious back and forth until suspense is broken by final tragedy. The raid on the apartments depicts this method vividly. Finally, Rossellini adopts a question mark ending for the fate of Rome after the fate of her champions has been decided.   We see both sadness and hope in the eyes and gait of the young boys who walk towards Rome's heart, and while we know as Rossellini knows that their unwelcome guests are soon to be forced out, Rossellini left his audience to ponder if eternal Rome would ever truly recover.

Rossellini does present the viewer with some difficulties, though.   The ability to understand conversations out of context is a must, as many pieces of foreign dialogue go wholly or partially untranslated, allowing for easy confusion if you are not paying the utmost attention.   The film quality is a step under atrocious, again forcing your undivided attention in an irritating manner. And of course, as is the case with all neo-realist films, the method with which Open City is constructed can come off as dull when primary action is not occurring. This final point is only worsened by the aforementioned need for total immersion. Because of these flaws, some will feel Open City is more trouble than it is worth. It is more than worth the trouble, though, if you are willing to meet it halfway.

Aldo Fabrizi and Anna Magnani stand out amongst their fellow cast members. Yes, because of their experience, but there is more to it than that. Rossellini showed great wisdom in his choice of professional vs. non-professional actors. For his new brand of realism, real folk could play supporting cast brilliantly. Real folk, in everyone's but their own eyes, spend their whole life as supporting cast. With characters as rich and important as Don Pietro and Pina, however, seasoned veterans are needed. Magnani's portrayal of Pina simultaneously warms and stabs the heart. In fact, it was her role as Pina that drew Magnani into worldwide fame. Then you have Aldo Fabrizi, accustomed primarily to comedic work, turning the Don into an amiable hero. Fabrizi brings over from his previous work a lighthearted charisma that brightens every scene he is part of (even the most grim), without dulling the significance and intelligence of the film. Fabrizi does Don Morosini great justice in making the audience so easily believe the great faith he holds and burden he shoulders. The only possible exception to these character niches is the first-timer Marcello Pagliero who handles with ease some very tough scenes as Manfredi (the most vital character aside from Pietro and Pina).

If Rossellini became the father of Italian Neo-Realism with Rome, Open City, Vittorio De Sica became the poster child for the movement with The Bicycle Thief. Many film lovers debate the superiority and merits of these two films when set against each other. De Sica took Rossellini's foundation and went to the extreme. Ultra-neo-realism, so to speak. De Sica was a talented and incredible filmmaker, and The Bicycle Thief remains a commendable work of ultra-realism and minimalism. De Sica, though, ignored a very important tenet of storytelling that Rossellini held close to his heart while making Open City. A good story involves any of three things: extraordinary people, extraordinary circumstances, or extraordinary method of accounting a tale. The very basis of neo-realism is the antithesis of an extraordinary storytelling method. That leaves us with The Bicycle Thief, a sad tale that I honestly cannot feel anything for because the main character is anything but extraordinary, and the events befalling him are not only unimportant to any but he and his family, but mundane at that. And then we have Rome, Open City; a story of ordinary people put in extraordinary circumstances, and becoming extraordinary themselves. 

I am reminded of 1959's The Diary of Anne Frank when watching Open City. The Diary of Anne Frank naturally suffers from a more romanticized Hollywood production, but the raw feeling imbued on the viewer and the similar tone with which two forms of the Nazi's oppression are shown is unmistakable.

An oddly beautiful collection of scenes to illustrate Rossellini's profound storytelling and message delivery revolve around Don Pietro at the end of the film. The Germans attempt to wear Pietro's faith down and he brushes them off tenaciously as in the next room, Manfredi is tortured excessively. Pietro then has the final words of note as he stands over his tortured compatriot before being removed for execution in the morning. Then, while in front of the firing squad, the young boys from Pietro's church arrive and cling desperately to the fence surrounding the pasture the priest is seated in. They begin to whistle the resistance's song and Pietro raises his head in newfound strength. The last significant impact Pietro has as Rome's hero is purely symbolic as the Italians in the firing squad all aim their guns down and fire into the dirt. When the curtain falls on Pietro, his eyes shine with Rome's victory. An extraordinary man in extraordinary circumstances.