Rome, Open City

Co-written by Fellini, who also served as assistant director, Rossellini’s masterpiece of neorealism is one of the cinema’s landmark works, and features the celebrated Anna Magnani in the role that first brought her international attention and acclaim.  Magnani gives a stirring performance as the proud, plebian Pina, pregnant fiancée of an Italian resistance fighter, caught up in the struggle against the brutal Nazi occupation. Aldo Fabrizi co-stars as Don Pietro, a partisan priest. Shot in the war-torn streets of Rome only weeks after the liberation, Rome, Open City stunned audiences around the world with its dramatic intensity and newsreel-like immediacy. Its unvarnished directness led many viewers of the day to mistake the work for a documentary, or so legend has it. Agee was so awed by the film that he publicly proclaimed himself unable to review it. "All roads lead to Rome, Open City" (Jean Luc-Godard). B&W, 35mm, in Italian with English subtitles. 105 mins.