Rome Open City (Roma città aperta) was Roberto Rossellini’s revelation, a harrowing drama about the Nazi occupation of Rome and the brave few who struggled against it. Though told with more melodramatic flair than the other films that would form this trilogy and starring some well-known actors—Aldo Fabrizi as a priest helping the partisan cause and Anna Magnani in her breakthrough role as Pina, the fiancée of a resistance member—Rome Open City (Roma città aperta) is a shockingly authentic experience, conceived and directed amid the ruin of World War II, with immediacy in every frame. Marking a watershed moment in Italian cinema, this galvanic work garnered awards around the globe and left the beginnings of a new film movement in its wake.
Selected awards and nominations: 1946 Festival de Cannes Grand Prize of the Festival; 1946 National Board of Review (USA) winner for Best Actress (Anna Magnani), Best Foreign Film, and Top Ten Films; 1947 Academy Award nomination for Best Writing.
35mm film print from Istituto Luce Cinecittà.