Roma, città aperta (1945)

Director:

Roberto Rossellini

Writers:

Sergio Amidei (writer) and
Federico Fellini (writer)

Release Date:

27 September 1945 (Italy)

Genre:

Drama | War

Plot:

Rome, 1944. Giorgio Manfredi, one of the leaders of the Resistance, is tracked down by the Nazis. He goes to his friend Francesco's...

Plot Keywords:

Priest | Nazi | Resistance | Friend | Widow

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 6 wins

Cast

Aldo Fabrizi	...	Don Pietro Pellegrini
Anna Magnani	...	Pina
Marcello Pagliero	...	Giorgio Manfredi aka Luigi Ferraris
Vito Annichiarico	...	Piccolo Marcello
Nando Bruno	...	Agostino
Harry Feist	...	Major Bergmann
Giovanna Galletti	...	Ingrid
Francesco Grandjacquet	...	Francesco
Eduardo Passarelli	...	Neighborhood Police Sergeant (as Passarelli)
Maria Michi	...	Marina Mari
Carla Rovere	...	Lauretta
Carlo Sindici	...	Police Commissioner
Joop van Hulzen	...	Captain Hartmann (as Van Hulzen)
Ákos Tolnay	...	Austrian Deserter (as A. Tolnay)

Also Known As:

Open City (USA)
Rome, Open City

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian | German

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Germany:12 (cut) (DVD rating) | West Germany:16 (re-rating) (cut) | West Germany:(Banned) (1950-1961) | Australia:M | Portugal:M/12 | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:Approved

Filming Locations:

Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company:

Excelsa Film

Trivia:

Clara Calamai, the lead in Luchino Visconti's Ossessione (1943), was Roberto Rossellini's first choice for the part later taken by Anna Magnani.

Quotes:

Major Bergman: Then I'll tell you who he is. He's subversive, he's fought with the Reds in Spain. His life is dedicated to fighting society, religion. He is an atheist... your enemy...
Don Pietro: I am a Catholic priest. I believe that those who fight for justice and truth walk in the path of God and the paths of God are infinite

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Roberto Rossellini: appunti biografici (1964) (TV)

Outstanding Italian Neo-realist classic

Roberto Rossellini's Open City contains characters so real and emotions so powerful that it is not unusual for audiences to wonder whether the drama being played out on the screen is in truth a bona fide documentation of events surrounding the Italian Resistance during WWII. A study of the production history reveals that the film is closer to a combination of pure documentation (most accounts will go into detail about the location shooting and the presence of real soldiers) and dramatic reconstruction of actual events (like the execution of priest Don Morosini by the Nazis) with some lyrical filmmaking thrown in for good measure (I still get chills down my spine when I hear the children whistling in defiance of their oppressors). Anna Magnani, one of the greatest performers in the history of Italian cinema, is absolutely amazing in this film.