Paisan (1946)
"Paisà" (original title)

Six vignettes follow the Allied invasion from July 1943 to winter 1944, from Sicily north to Venice. Communication is fragile. A woman leads an Allied patrol through a mine field; she dies ... See full summary »

Director:

Roberto Rossellini

Writers:

Sergio Amidei (story), Klaus Mann (story),

Stars:

Carmela Sazio, Robert Van Loon, Gar Moore

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 8 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Carmela Sazio	...	Carmela (episode I: Sicilia)
Robert Van Loon	...	Joe, the American soldier (episode I: Sicilia)
Benjamin Emanuel	...	An American soldier (episode I: Sicilia)
Raymond Campbell	...	An American soldier (episode I: Sicilia)
Harold Wagner	...	Harry, a German soldier (episode I: Sicilia)
Albert Heinze	...	A German soldier (episode I: Sicilia)
Merlin Berth	...	Merlin, an American soldier (episode I: Sicilia)
Mats Carlson	...	Swede, an American soldier (episode I: Sicilia)
Leonard Parrish	...	An American soldier (episode I: Sicilia) (as Leonard Penish)
Dots Johnson	...	Joe - the American MP (episode II: Napoli) (as Dots M. Johnson)
Alfonsino Pasca	...	Pasquale (episode II: Napoli) (as Alfonsino)
Maria Michi	...	Francesca (episode III: Roma)
Gar Moore	...	Fred, an American soldier (episode III: Roma)
Harriet Medin	...	Harriet, the nurse (episode IV: Firenze) (as Harriet White)
Renzo Avanzo	...	Massimo (episode IV: Firenze)

Storyline

Six vignettes follow the Allied invasion from July 1943 to winter 1944, from Sicily north to Venice. Communication is fragile. A woman leads an Allied patrol through a mine field; she dies protecting a G.I., but the Yanks think she killed him. A street urchin steals shoes from a G.I. who tracks him to a shanty town. A G.I. meets a woman the day Rome is liberated; in six months they meet again: he's cynical, she's a prostitute. A US nurse braves the trip across the Arno into German fire in search of a partisan she loves. Three chaplains, including a Jew, call on a monastery north in the Apennines. Allied soldiers and partisans try to escape capture in the marshes of the Po.

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Plot Keywords:

partisan | nurse | prostitute | street urchin | sicily | 

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Genres:

War | Drama

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian English German Sicilian

Release Date:

29 March 1948 (USA)

Also Known As:

Paisan

Filming Locations:

Florence, Tuscany, Italy

Company Credits

Production Co:

Organizzazione Film Internazionali (OFI), Foreign Film Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

134 min 134 min (restored)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film project started in 1945 as a collection of seven stories of American soldiers after their landing on Sicily, and their relationships with Italian people. In December 1945, it was announced on the newspapers as "Sette Americani".

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Goofs

During night a GI lights up his lighter while following the rocky path through the lava canal. A flashlight might have been used in order to help increase the effect of the lighter being lit. When the soldier closes the lighter, the spot projected by the flashlight remains on for a fraction of a second, which is enough to observe the synchronization issue.

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Connections

Referenced in The Dreamers (2003)

User Reviews

Rossellini: An important figure in the development of the cinema..

Often dismissed as a founder of Italian Neo-Realism whose career degenerated either at the start or the end of his much publicized relationship with Ingrid Bergman, Roberto Rossellini remains one of the most underrated directors in cinema history...

Exploring the links between fiction and documentary, observation and education, and the individual and society, he was an important figure in the development of the cinema...

Rossellini said of the film: 'In Paisá there were two worlds which came into contact, each with a different psychology and mental structure. From this contact was born a great confusion; so much so that in the end there were neither victors nor vanquished, there remained only the everyday heroism of the man who clings to life. And who lives, despite everything, whether he is one of the victors or one of the vanquished.'

Rossellini followed 'Rome Open City' with the equally impressive Paisá, whose six, often barely dramatic stories of part-comic, part tragic encounters between Italians, Germans and liberating Americans were rooted in specific locations (the Po Valley, the Uffizi Gallery), but were universal in their portrait of an entire nation destroyed and divided by war...

Already Rossellini's taste for long, mobile takes in long shot (rather than montage and close-up) gave evidence of his desire to relate individuals to the world around them...

In using a number of non-professional cast, and combining them with his improvisatory techniques, Rossellini get an universally acclaimed human document of rare quality and compassion...

Georges Sadoul wrote that Rossellini had 'damned the horrors that war had brought to his country and his heart cry was emotionally and enthusiastically understood around the entire world.'