Remembering Rossellini’s Open City: Five Minutes That Defined Neorealism

International Journal of Humanities and Social Science

© 2024 by SSRG - IJHSS Journal

Volume 11 Issue 3

Year of Publication : 2024

Authors : Sabina Craciun Panicker

10.14445/23942703/IJHSS-V11I3P105

How to Cite?

Sabina Craciun Panicker, "Remembering Rossellini’s Open City: Five Minutes That Defined Neorealism," SSRG International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, vol. 11,  no. 3, pp. 31-34, 2024. Crossref, https://doi.org/10.14445/23942703/IJHSS-V11I3P105

Abstract:

This commentary on Roberto Rossellini’s Rome, Open City (1945) situates the film as a pre-eminent pillar of the Italian Neorealist movement, providing extensive cultural context as a means of appraising the documentarian intentions behind the work. It proceeds to move into a shot-by-shot analysis of a five-minute sequence widely considered to be the film’s apex, probing into filmic elements, production methods, and the encroaching destruction in its periphery to divulge new insights into the precarious creation and everlasting impact of Rossellini’s magnum opus. At its core, the analysis holds two main aims: to expound on Open City’s defiance of the conventions that marked the preceding Fascist period and to spotlight its ingeniously poignant depiction of the clandestine Italian Resistance, immortalizing their sustained passion amidst brutal Nazi occupation.

Keywords:

Cinema, Composition, Neorealism, Rossellini, War.

References:

[1] Liberation of Rome, Liberation Route Europe. [Online]. Available: https://www.liberationroute.com/pois/338/liberation-of-rome.
[2] One Hundred Years of Cinema, 1945: Rome Open City - How Neo-Realism Shows You the World, YouTube, 2020. [Online]. Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKRs-uX67dg.
[3] Nasrullah Mambrol, Post-War Italian Realist Cinema, Literary Theory and Criticism, Literariness.org, 2018. [Online]. Available: https://literariness.org/2018/08/05/post-war-italian-realist-cinema/.
[4] Italian Neorealism, Movements in Film, 2014. [Online]. Available: https://www.movementsinfilm.com/italian-neorealism.
[5] Roberto Rosselini, Encyclopedia.com, 2018. [Online]. Available: https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/film-and-television-biographies/roberto-rossellini.
[6] Rome, Open City (1945), Trivia, IMDb. [Online]. Available: https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0038890/trivia/?ref_=tt_trv_trv.
[7] Ben Lawton, “Italian Neorealism: A Mirror Construction of Reality,” Journal Storage, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 8–23, 1978.
[Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[8] George H. Hildebrand, “The Postwar Italian Economy: Achievements, Problems, and Prospects,” World Politics, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 46- 70, 1955.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[9] Martin Walsh, “Rome, Open City and the Rise to Power of Louis XIV,” Jump Cut, no. 15, pp. 13-15, 1977.
[Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[10] Sidney Gottlieb, Roberto Rossellini's Rome Open City, Cambridge University Press, pp. 1-193, 2004.
[Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[11] Peter Brunette, “Rossellini and Cinematic Realism,” Cinema Journal, vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 34-49, 1985.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[12] Teresa Gullace Talotta, A Woman, A wife, A Mother, My Hero, 2008. [Online]. Available: https://myhero.com/T_Gullace_ss_IT_2008_ul.
[13] Sarah Gadon, Neorealism’s Closed Gates: The Women of Rome, Open City, Cléo A Journal of film and feminism, 2015. [Online]. Available: https://cleojournal.com/2015/11/24/neorealisms-closed-gates-the-women-of-rome-open-city/.
[14] Millicent Marcus, “Pina’s Pregnancy, Traumatic Realism, and the After-Life of Open City,” Italica, vol. 85, no. 4, pp. 426-438, 2008.
[Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]
[15] Rome, Open City (1945), Filming and Production, IMDb. [Online]. Available: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038890/locations/
[16] America Bombs Rome, History, 2009. [Online]. Available: https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/america-bombs-rome.
[17] JL Admin, Rome, Open City (1945) - Summary - Analysis, Jotted Lines A Collection of Essays, 2019. [Online]. Available: https://jottedlines.com/rome-open-city-1945-summary-analysis/.
[18] Beth Harris, and Steven Zucker, Michelangelo, Pietà, Smarthistory, 2024. [Online]. Available: https://smarthistory.org/michelangelo-pieta/.
[19] “EUR District,” Europe Remembers, 2024. [Online]. Available: https://www.europeremembers.com/pois/18/eur-district.
[20] Vittorio Daniele and Renato Ghezzi, “The Impact of World War II on Nutrition and Children's Health in Italy.” Investigaciones de Historia Económica - Economic History Research, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 119-131, 2019.
[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]