Paisà (film)

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Movie
German title Paisà
Original title Paisà
Country of production Italy
original language Italian
Publishing year 1946
length 134 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Roberto Rossellini
script Sergio Amidei
Klaus Mann
Federico Fellini
Marcello Pagliero
Alfred Hayes
Vasco Pratolini
production Rod E. Geiger
Roberto Rossellini
Mario Conti
music Renzo Rossellini
camera Otello Martelli
cut Eraldo Da Roma
occupation

Paisà is an episode film of Italian neorealism from 1946. Directed by Roberto Rossellini . The title of the film is derived from the Italian word paesano (compatriot). During the Second World War , the inhabitants of Italy were called paisas by the American soldiers .

action

The film is set in German-occupied Italy shortly before the end of World War II. It shows the liberation of the country by Allied troops ( see Landing on Sicily , Italian Campaign ) and is divided into six episodes, each about twenty minutes long. The order of the episodes is based on the geographic location of their locations from south to north. Authentic newsreels about the advance of the US soldiers can be seen between the individual sections of the film .

1st episode: Sicily

A group of US soldiers land on the island of Sicily at night . A young Italian woman named Carmela shows them the way through a minefield to a ruined castle that the Germans used as their quarters. There, Joe, one of the GIs, remains alone with the woman while the others scout the area. Over time, despite the language barrier, the two get into a conversation and develop sympathy and understanding for each other. When Joe is shot from a distance by a German soldier, Carmela takes his gun and shoots back. Then she is thrown onto a cliff by the Germans and dies. The Americans, who became aware of the shot, see Joe's body and believe the Italian to be responsible.

2nd episode: Naples

The southern Italian city of Naples is under the control of the Western Allies. A poor African-American military policeman named Joe meets the Italian boy Pasquale, completely drunk. He goes to a puppet theater with him and tells stories from his homeland. When Joe sleeps off his intoxication, Pasquale steals his boots to sell on the black market. A few days later, the military policeman happened to meet the boy on the street, recognized him and asked for his boots back. He accompanies Pasquale to his house and is shocked to discover that the boy, like himself, lives in a poor neighborhood. Pasquale's parents were killed in an Allied air strike. Ashamed, Joe gives the boy the boots.

3rd episode: Rome

In the liberated capital Rome , the Italian Francesca takes a drunken American soldier named Fred to her room in the hope of being able to earn some money through prostitution. However, he is not interested and instead tells her a story. Shortly after the liberation of Rome, he met a young Italian woman and fell in love with her. In the turmoil of war, however, he lost sight of them. He has not yet got over this loss. As the soldier speaks, Francesca realizes that she is the woman he mourns. Both of them have changed so much in the meantime that they didn't recognize each other. Francesca pretends to know the woman she is looking for and sends Fred a note with her address. However, he does not believe the allegations of the alleged prostitutes and leaves the city with his unit. The next day she waits in vain for her lover to visit her former apartment.

4th episode: Florence

In the Tuscan city ​​of Florence , fierce skirmishes between German soldiers and American troops supported by Italian partisans . The American nurse Harriet learns that her lover Lupo, a partisan leader, has been seriously wounded on the other bank of the Arno River . Determined to find him, she takes a risky trip to the disputed part of town. On her way she meets several Lupos acquaintances who help her and show her the right way. Accompanied by the freedom fighter Massimo, she finally reaches her goal. There she learns that Lupo has died. So she risked her life in vain.

5th episode: Romagna

Three military chaplains of the US Army seek shelter in an Italian monastery, which is peaceful and untouched by war in the mountains of Romagna . The Americans Martin, Feldman and Jones participate in the life of the local monks and provide them with food. When one of the monks wonders why Feldman and Jones stay away from the prayers of the order, Martin tells him that the two are not Catholic , but Jewish or Protestant . Horrified to have two unbelievers in their midst, the friars decide to fast and pray for their souls. The three clergymen believe that fasting is just an expression of the monks' deep faith and are impressed.

6th episode: The Po plain

US soldiers and Italian partisans join forces in the Po Valley to fight the Germans together. They encounter numerous dangers on their way along the river. When they see the body of a partisan floating on the water, they take a great risk to recover the body. Before there can be a fight, however, they are surrounded by Germans and taken prisoner. Americans are treated according to the rules of the Geneva Conventions . The partisans, on the other hand, are tied on their backs and pushed into the river. When the US officer Dale tries to rush to the aid of the allies, he is shot in cold blood by a German.

Background / dramaturgy

The film is considered a major work of Italian neorealism . Almost all typical features of this era can be found in Paisà , such as the division into several, fragmentary episodes, the authentic and unadulterated representation of actual events, the absence of studio recordings and artificial light, the cast with amateur actors and the high level of improvisation . Due to the realistic and timely implementation of the topic, in combination with real newsreel excerpts, the film has an almost documentary character. The film was shot exclusively at the original venues.

Paisà forms the middle part of Roberto Rossellini's Neorealistic Trilogy about the Second World War (see also Rome, Open City , 1945 and Germany in the year zero , 1948 ). Klaus Mann and Federico Fellini , among others, were involved in the script .

In the film, the director wanted to portray the clash of different cultures and mentalities (Italians and Americans). Although there are many differences between nationalities, for example with regard to the perception of religion and tolerance (episode V), similarities can always be found (episode II).

In most cases, two people are the focus of every story. Episode V is an exception, which is also noticeably different from the others in other ways. She is characterized above all by her calm and peaceful mood and is the only one that does not end in tragedy. The continuous timeline on which the episodes are lined up does not tell the story of “continued actions by people […] across films Form of the film stimulated further episode films such as L´amore in cittá (1953), Boccaccio 70 (1961), New York Stories (1989), Night on Earth (1991) and Short Cuts (1993).

For the first German release of the film in 1949 , the sixth episode was cut out because of its portrayal of brutal German Wehrmacht soldiers.

criticism

"The film binds the viewer to the events that he cannot escape - just as the circumstances in the film themselves are drawn into the turmoil of the war and do not know what will happen next."

- Ulrich Behrens on Filmzentrale.com

Awards

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Peter Rabenalt : Film dramaturgy. Berlin / Cologne 2011, p. 155 f.

Web links