Roma Citta Aperta

Roberto Rossellini’s Roma Citta’ Aperta was a part of this year’s International Film Series- “Reel Cities”. His movie, which translates to Open City in English, is about the Nazi occupation in Rome during World War II. It focuses on the Italian underground that tries to smuggle money out of Rome in order to aid resistance fighters. This Neorealist movie is considered to be a masterpiece of Italian Cinema. It uses on location shooting, the documentary effect, amateur actors, and regional dialects in order to create a realistic feel. But throughout the movie, even though the title sets the scene in Rome, viewers are given no indication of which city it takes place in. This could be because Rossellini wants viewers to acknowledge the fact that this could happen in any city- not just Rome. By highlighting the terrors of war that the people of Rome face, Rossellini shows outsiders what it was actually like during World War II. After watching the movie, I wondered to myself what it might be like if the War on Terror was being fought here in America. Throughout my lifetime, we have never had a real war experience, and watching Roma Citta' Aperta has made me very thankful for that fact.
In the movie, the people of Rome were never safe. There was always the fear of Nazis invading their homes or the possibility of breaking some unknown rule. For example, the movie talks about the 5 o’clock curfew imposed on Italian citizens. Only doctors, priests, and midwives were allowed out after curfew. This seems ridiculous when thinking about it from a modern point of view. I cannot imagine being restricted by the government as to when I could or could not leave my house. Furthermore, in the movie the Nazis invade the characters’ apartment building unexpectedly. The tenants are forced into a frenzy, and ushered out onto the streets. Then, when the Nazis found Francesco and took him in their truck, Pina chased after him not being able to bear him leaving, but the Nazis shot her in cold blood out on the street. There was always the ever-present fear of the unexpected, but there was also the hope for a better life, that things might one day get better. This was presented through the use of children in the film.
The way Rossellini presented hope for a better life reminded me of the teenagers’ lives chronicled in the article by the Baltimore Sun. The photos from this article, on display in the Urban Visions exhibit in the Julio Fine Arts Gallery in February, feature two homeless teenagers living in Baltimore. They also have the fear of the unexpected, like the Italian citizens in Roma Citta’ Aperta, not knowing what will happen to them next, where they will live next, or whom they will meet. But despite this fear of not knowing, these teenagers remain incredibly hopeful and still work hard for the idea that their lives might one day take a turn for the better. Even though both of the boys were orphaned/abandoned, they still had a sense of family within their communities that helped them survive from day to day. The way their communities stick together is reminiscent of the way the people of Rome bonded during World War II, always willing to help one another out. In the case of the two homeless teenagers, they bonded with their communities not through war, but through poverty. It is amazing how the two can be so similar and cause common reactions amongst people.
The end of the movie, Roma Citta’ Aperta, though it is devastating and many of the characters die, delivers a message of hope as the children march off and the ending scene shows the skyline of Rome. It shows how the people of Rome have survived so much already and can keep surviving. The children offer the hope for the future, while the scenes of Rome, such as the Forum and the Coliseum, serve as a reminder of all the past hardships Rome has already incurred. In the true Neorealist style, the movie ends without fluff. Everyone dies just as they would have during the War. There were no happy endings. I really cannot begin to imagine how different life would be if the War on Terror was being fought here in America. We would be forced to live with constant fear, never knowing when there would be an attack or an invasion. I think Roberto Rossellini tries to get his viewers to imagine the horrors of war and try to realize what it must have been like then and what it could be like even now if we continue to cause wars. It almost seems as a warning, reminding everyone that we should strive for peace so that our endings do not always have to be so unhappy.