Remember those old movies? The ones where a couple drives down the road, only they aren’t driving, they’re sitting in a car on some studio lot. And that’s not a road behind them; it’s a rear projection of road. Looks fake doesn’t it?

Did this fakery bother audiences back then? Not in the slightest. Back in the 1920s, ’30s and even into the ’40s, movies were about beautiful people living in fabulous mid-city apartments, dressing glamorously, saying the right thing at the right time and always finding a parking space. Movies were not reality; they were dream machines. And everyone seemed pretty happy with that. That was, until World War II came along.

Not only did World War II change…

Ingrid Bergman cited this film often in her interviews and autobiography. It was her introduction to Rossellini's work, and it eventually became the spark that led her to write the Italian director a letter that would change her entire career. For Ingrid, she had never seen a film so visceral, so realistic, so lacking in all the typical Hollywood embellishments. It is kind of astonishing that—73 years later— I am having the same reaction.

Through modern eyes, I do see how the astonishing "realism" does not quite hold up. There are embellishments, but it's important to view the film in the context of its time. There, the film transforms into a cinematic experience so rarely felt. The heartbreak and emotional…

Though remembered as an ally of the Axis during WWII, what isn't as well known is the German occupation of Italy during the tail end of the war. This was a time when Italy had already been invaded and defeated by Allied forces, agreeing to a peace which led to former-ally Germany to invade in-turn and deport Italians to concentration camps for what they saw as a betrayal.

I say this because I did not know this going in. It's undoubtedly a shame and I really should be more aware of modern world history considering how close it is, a struggle that I feel is never ending because there is just always so much to learn that we will never…

Hot DAMN this movie made me hate some Nazis.  

“But Jordan,” you say, “They’re Nazis. That’s not hard to do.” 

Ok, lemme explain here. The way that Rossellini makes you hate Nazis in “Rome, Open City” is to the point of causing a physical reaction. 

Documentaries on genocide can stir immense anger and loss with their realism in the portrayal of atrocities. The shock comes from needing to accept the actuality of events, even while the mind wants to reject them as false because of the extent of their horror. 

Rossellini accomplishes similar emotion, but through a basis in melodrama; previously the genre property of pro-fascist filmmakers in axis-era WWII Italy. 

Rossellini’s brand of melodrama isn’t confined to the…

Rome, Open City is cinema soaked in history, because the context in which it was made makes it more powerful. It's a film about occupied Rome, pertinent because it was actually shot during wartime. These events were raw in the minds of the audience. Rome, Open City is not a cheerful film at all, being harsh and despondent. The Rome here is one destroyed, as people scramble for bread and hope. This is a film of wartime life, made in the dying flames of wartime. The characters in the film reveal their naivety, as they believed the war would end quickly or a better world would arise. How many felt similarly? Rome, Open City is a neorealist film, but it's…

***One of the best 150 films I have ever seen.***

The neorealist Italian cinema has been one of the most inspiring, powerful and brutally honest artistic movements that have ever been orchestrated in cinema history. While an economically and socially destroyed world caused by one of the greatest wars in the history of humanity was searching for hope and a new start, Roma, Città Aperta was released in Italian movie theaters in September once that World War II had ended. It was precisely with the masterwork Roma, Città Aperta that the Italian neorealism achieved to acquire world fame as a revolutionary protest movement towards the crude reality people constantly lived in. Despite the fact that the film didn't quite possess…

Imagine the emotions of being an Italian in 1945 watching this wartime classic. By today's standards, the tactics of Rome Open City might feel a tad outdated, but its anti-Fascist authenticity is still as powerful and relevant as it was almost 80 years ago.

Shot immediately after the Nazis left Rome in 1944, Rome Open City is in no shortage of emotion, anger and spirit. Chronicling the intense mind games between members of Italian resistance groups and cruel Nazis officers, Rome Open City is neorealism at its finest, presenting patient and sensational storytelling in equal measures.

Despite its lack of style, Rome Open City manages to excel with its abundant heart and soul, by depicting the hardship and sacrifice in…