Rome, open city
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Rome, open city |
| Original title | Roma città aperta |
| Country of production | Italy |
| original language | Italian , German |
| Publishing year | 1945 |
| length | 100 minutes shortened: 93 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Roberto Rossellini |
| script |
Alberto Consiglio (story) Sergio Amidei (story) Federico Fellini |
| production |
Giuseppe Amato Ferruccio De Martino Roberto Rossellini |
| music | Renzo Rossellini |
| camera | Ubaldo Arata |
| cut | Eraldo Da Roma |
| occupation | |
| |
Rome, open city (original title: Roma città aperta ) is an Italian film by Roberto Rossellini from 1945. It was prepared during the war and is an example of Italian neorealism .
action
Italy , which changed fronts in World War II in 1943 , is occupied by the Germans. On August 14, 1943, Rome was declared an open city . The engineer Giorgio Manfredi and the priest Don Pietro Pellegrini work in the resistance against the Germans. The Italian fascists, communists, socialists and monarchists are allied in this. The engineer's friend, the printer Francesco, is engaged to the widow Pina, who leads a meager life with her family. Her son from her first marriage, Marcello, helps the resistance by smuggling bombs. Marina, Giorgio's former lover, leads a comparatively lavish lifestyle because she keeps herself rich lovers. For luxury goods and drugs she betrays the resistance fighters, who are also responsible for fatal attacks on Wehrmacht soldiers . The Gestapo commander , Major Bergmann, arrests Giorgio, the priest, and another accomplice. The latter hangs himself in prison. Giorgio is supposed to reveal the names of the accomplices and refuses. He is being tortured to death. Meanwhile, an officer expresses doubts about the manhood of the Nazis and draws a sobering conclusion of the Second World War: This only led to the German people being hated by all of Europe. Bergmann, who regards the Italians as a slave people, forbids his officer to express these thoughts. When Marina sees the body of the tortured Giorgios, she collapses. The film ends with the execution of the priest. He is actually supposed to be executed by a firing squad of Italian fascists, but they all fail. Finally, the German officer kills the priest with a head shot from his pistol.
background
Based on interconnected episodes, multiple characters are portrayed, such as the various members of the resistance, one of whom has a relationship with a widowed mother whom he plans to marry. The priest sees support as fulfilling his duty of faith. Various police officers appear, some of whom work together with the Germans, some of whom just want to do their job. The Germans are also presented differently. The local head of the Gestapo despises the Italians, another officer realizes that the behavior of the Germans only fuels hatred and resistance. The fact that the resisters are caught is ultimately only due to the collaboration of their compatriot, who works with the occupiers for drugs and for financial reasons.
The script was written with the assistance of Federico Fellini . It is based on actual events that Roberto Rossellini filmed in a very factual, documentary style. The film was the prelude to Rossellini's Neorealist Trilogy (see also Paisà , 1946 and Germany in the Year Zero , 1948)
From today's perspective, Aldo Fabrizi and Anna Magnani are the most famous actors in the ensemble film ; for Magnani, the film was the cornerstone of her world career.
FSK decisions
The Rated ruled on 8 September 1950, the film show "historical truth, though overexcited"; "Today, however, in a new European situation, a public demonstration must have a fear of inciting hatred, which must be avoided in the interests of general, especially European, international understanding." In particular, a serious disruption of the relationship between Germany and Italy must be feared, "Whose effects could not be overlooked and therefore cannot be held responsible in the interest of the country of manufacture."
The FSK working committee therefore unanimously forbade the public showing of the film in the Federal Republic of Germany. The original version of the film was released for closed club screenings. The FSK almost exclusively found approval for this line in the press. Bruno E. Werner wrote in the Neue Zeitung on November 5, 1950 : "What could have been therapy in 1946 is new infection in 1950."
When the film was submitted to the FSK again in 1960, the examiners were ready to approve the film, as "a great deal has changed in the political climate in recent years and the current situation made it appear possible for the film to have a different effect". However, the film must have a new text that reminds the visitor of the difference between SS and Germans.
At the end of 1960 the FSK examined a slightly shortened and amended German version; In early 1961 she released them from 16. The changes weaken some places; some changes in the dialogue caused a distortion of meaning. So the communist became a socialist, and the nationality of the German torturers was not explicitly mentioned, but simply referred to as Nazis.
The Arthaus DVD (released in 1999) contains the original soundtrack (in addition to the German synchro) and also a documentation about the audio censorship of the German soundtrack. The torture scene, which was also deleted by the German censors, is not on the Arthaus DVD. Since 1995 a plaque has been attached to the house in Via degli Avignonesi , one of the main locations.
Reviews
“The activities, the persecution and the cruel end of an Italian resistance group during the German occupation (1944). A milestone in film history. "
“If there should be such a thing as the poetry of humanity, then it should be in Roberto Rossellini's still inspiring drama Roma, città aperta from 1945. This is not just an extremely realistic film about the Resistancea, the Italian resistance against the German Nazis - Occupiers in Rome, but a propaganda film of a very special kind. [...] Rome, Open City [is] a propaganda film that insists on the good in people with a completely sober and therefore all the more powerful idealism . He claims that beyond education and tradition, everyone knows what is right and wrong - and that when it comes down to it, he can be a hero. "
"Key work of neorealism."
"The chronicle of the conflict between Italian resistance fighters and the German SS in Rome in 1944, portrayed with hard realism and high artistic ability. Some one-sidedness in the drawing of the characters should not be overemphasized when dealing with this film."
Awards
- Cannes International Film Festival 1946 - Grand Prix
- Oscar nomination 1947 - Best Screenplay
- Sindacato Nazionale dei Giornalisti Cinematografici Italiani; Silver Ribbon for the Best Film; Award for Anna Magnani as best supporting actress (1946)
- National Board of Review : Best Foreign Language Film 1946, Best Actress: Anna Magnani
- New York Film Critics Circle Awards : Best Foreign Language Film 1946
Frames
- David Forgacs: Rome, open city (Roma, città aperta). Arthaus, Leipzig 2005 ISBN 3-86578-003-2 (censored), DVD 93 min. with eye book
- Rossellini: The War Trilogy , multilingual, British Film Institute BFI, also contains "Paisà" and "Germany at Zero Hour". 103 min.
literature
- Rome Open City (Roma Città Aperta). Palgrave - British Film Institute BFI, London 2000, ISBN 978-0-85170-804-1 (English)
Web links
- Rome, Open City in the Internet Movie Database (English).
- Sven Keller: It's not difficult to die well. In: FilmGeschichte (s) of the 19./20. Century
- Rossellini. Open city. In: Der Spiegel No. 9/1961
- Hartmut Gege: Birth of Neorealism. Rossellini's "Roma città aperta" was premiered 60 years ago. In: Deutschlandradio Kultur , September 24, 2005
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Rosellini, Open City, Film . In: Der Spiegel . No. 9 , 1961, pp. 72 ( online ).
- ↑ Jürgen Kniep: “No youth release!” Film censorship in West Germany 1949–1990 , Wallstein Verlag, Göttingen 2010, p. 164
- ↑ Jürgen Kniep: “No youth release!” Film censorship in West Germany 1949–1990 , Wallstein Verlag, Göttingen 2010, p. 165
- ↑ F.-B. Habel : Cut up films. Censorship in the cinema , p. 84
- ↑ Review on filmzentrale.com.- The uncensored version only in: Rossellini: The War Trilogy , multilingual, British Film Institute BFI, also easily available in D in stores (also contains "Paisà" and "Germany at the hour zero" (in WP : Germany in year zero)).
- ↑ Rome, open city. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ Ev. Munich Press Association, Review No. 160/1961.