Cinema Insieme
presents
Rome, Open City [Roma, Citta Aperta]
dir. Roberto Rossellini (1945)
Monday, March 8 at 7:00 p.m.
The Pearl Company
16 Steven Street, Hamilton
http://thepearlcompany.ca
Admission: $10 pp (film, Q & A, wine & cheese reception)
Period:
WWII - during the 9 month Nazi occupation of Rome in 1943
The Fascist dictatorship has begun its fall, although many sympathizers still remain. The Nazis have occupied several Italian cities and areas. The Italian Resistance movement is carrying out a clandestine battle against the Nazis, as they did against the Fascist dictatorship. Based on real life events, this landmark film focuses on the hardships and struggles of ordinary people and their fight for freedom. Rome, Open City, considered the mother of the Neo-realist film movement, ushered in a new film style that influenced audiences and directors throughout the world.
Characters:
Italian Partisans
Manfredi (engineer, Resistance leader)
Francesco (typesetter, friend of Manfredi, Pina’s fiancé)
Pina (played by Anna Magnani; engaged to Francesco) The Young Boys:
Don Pietro (Partisan parish priest) Marcello (Pina’s son)
Agostino (sexton) Romolo (leader of boys’ movement)
Lauretta (Pina’s sister) Marina (dancer/actress, Manfredi’s girlfriend)
Nazis
Major Fritz Bergmann
Ingrid The Police Commissioner of Rome
Captain Hartmann
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FILM DESCRIPTION & REVIEWS:
Film: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038890/Review: http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/36504/Open-City/overviewOther Reviews:J.L. Godard: “…all roads lead to Rome, Open City”.
R. Ames: Rome Open City “is a key film in the history of world cinema … its primacy in the neo-realist movement is unchallenged”.
Rossellini: “We were emerging from the tragedy of the war …. we were all its victims.
I sought only to depict the essence of things."
“Rome Open City is a film about fear, everyone’s fear, but above all my own."