"Massacre in Rome" is based on a 1967 book, "Death in Rome," by Robert Katz who also worked on the screenplay. The book, in turn, is about true events. On March 24, 1944, the Germans killed 335 men (a few were boys under 19) in the Ardeatine Caves located outside of Rome to the southeast. The execution was a reprisal for a partisan group ambush of a German SS unit the day before. Initially, 28 soldiers died; but the number of dead would increase. The Germans determined that 10 Italians should die for each German soldier killed. Hitler approved of the plan and ordered the execution within 24 hours. By then, 33 German soldiers had died, so 330 Italians were to be killed. The number of German soldiers who died eventually reached 42.
The SS commander in Rome, Herbert Kappler, was in charge of the execution. The 74 SS officers and men of his unit would do the killing – each one having to do four or five. They would use Luger pistols and shoot the victims in the back of their heads. They chose the Ardeatine Caves so that they could set off charges inside to collapse the caves and hide the corpses. Kappler ordered cases of cognac to be sent to the site for his men to drink. This was to steel them to the task at hand by numbing their consciences and sensitivity to the cold-blooded killing they were to do.
The partisan group was expecting that news of their ambush would spread. Then it would rouse the public for more resistance. The American Army was not far from Rome. But the Germans didn't publicize the partisan ambush. Nor did they make public their reprisal. There were no news reports on radio or in the newspapers. So, the only people who knew first hand that the ambush had taken place, were the partisans who carried it out, the Germans and the few people who lived on the Via Rasella where it took place. And even fewer would know about the reprisal at the time.
The Germans were carrying out the reprisal, to their way of thinking, under the terms of the Hague Convention of 1907. It prescribed rules and conduct concerning the military and civilians during war. But, in reality, with no one to know about either event – in the Italian public and German ranks, this was little more than revenge to assuage the pride of some in the offended Nazi hierarchy. Yet it cost the lives of 335 men.
The movie shows all of this. But there are some things it doesn't show. For instance, three Italian bystanders were killed in the partisan ambush. Three dozen or more of those the Germans killed in the reprisal were Italian army officers, not civilians. They probably were POWs since Italy had surrendered and sided with the Allies. And, not all were Italians – some were Jews from other countries. Also, most of the German soldiers killed were actually northern Italians with ethnic German or Austrian backgrounds. They had been Italian soldiers who chose to join the special Bozen unit in Rome.
As the movie shows, the Nazi leaders assumed their victims would be criminals already sentenced to death. But, when there were so few, all convicted prisoners were added, and civilians from the ambush street were rounded up. Then 57 Jews who were in custody were added. By noon of that day, Kappler had a list of 271 victims, and the Italian police chief, Pietro Caruso, was to provide a list of 50 more Italians. When German soldiers emptied the Regina Coeli prison, they had 335 men.
The end credits of the movie include "The list of men known to have died in the Ardeatine Caves." It shows 332 names with ages and occupations of most. The movie shows Father Pietro Antonelli (played by Marcello Mastroianni) as one of those killed – at the very end. The list doesn't include him, so he likely was a fictitious character in the film. As the list runs on, a narrator says that the Allies liberated Rome just 10 weeks later. He relates the outcome of the chief Axis leaders.
The Italian chief of police, Caruso, was tried by an Italian court, sentenced to death and executed. None of the others were executed, although Luftwaffe Lt. Gen. Kurt Maelzer and Field Marshal Albert Kesselring were sentenced to death. Maelzer died in prison in 1952 and that same year, Kesselring was released. There's some interesting background to this, but not sufficient room here to go into it. Kappler was tried in 1948 and given a life sentence. The film has him still in the Gaeta Military Prison. But, he later escaped a military hospital where he was being treated for cancer. His second wife, Anneliese and her son helped Kappler escape on Aug. 15, 1977. He made it to Soltau, Germany where he died six months later.
While the events and main characters here were real, much of the dialog and some of the details are fiction. The authors weren't there to observe and listen to people and events. Most of the cast are very good. But, I think the role of Gen. Maelzer is way overdone by Leo McKern. Especially his poor emotional display over "my boys" (the killed German soldiers who were really northern Italians). And, Richard Burton's portrayal of Kappler seems overly philosophical. For a more thorough and different look at the person of Herbert Kappler, watch the movie, "The Scarlet and the Black." Christopher Plummer plays an excellent Kappler over a period of the war that covers almost two years. His nemesis was a real priest, Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty in the Vatican, played superbly by Gregory Peck.
2 out of 5 found this helpful.
Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
