Rome Open City (1945) Criterion 1080p BluRay HEVC AAC-SARTRE + Extras

Roberto Rossellini's Roma, Città Aperta (known in English as Open City) was one of the landmark films of the 1940s on several levels. Aesthetically, it was one of the first major works of Italian neorealist filmmaking and perhaps the single most influential example of the style. Historically, it was among the first postwar European films to gain a significant audience in the United States, opening the door for a greater appreciation of international filmmaking in America. And politically, it was a work of tremendous bravery. The screenplay was written by Roberto Rossellini in association with Federico Fellini and Sergio Amidei while Rome was still occupied by German forces in 1943-44. Rossellini began filming in secret, using scavenged film stock without sound equipment, shortly before the city was liberated in June of 1944. Several key members of his creative team had been active in the Italian resistance movement. With its rough, documentary-style look, multi-layered narrative, and a cast that mixed amateurs with actors who didn't look like film stars, Roma, Città Aperta captured the harsh and unforgiving textures of real life as few movies of its time had dared. It set the pace for Italian Neorealism as an influential postwar film style that combined outdoor light and location shooting with non-actors, a focus on simple stories of everyday life, and a concern for the poor and for social problems. Roma, Città Aperta shows the lives of a group of people living in Rome during the Nazi occupation, after the Germans had declared it an "open city." Anna Magnani plays a woman in love with a member of a resistance group; in helping him, she risks not only her own life, but also that of her unborn child. Aldo Fabrizi plays a priest who aids the anti-Nazi cause and pays dearly for his activism. Marcello Pagliero is an outspoken communist who runs afoul of the Nazis. And Harry Feist plays a German officer who has taken an Italian lover, but whose affection for Romans does not run especially deep. While Roma, Città Aperta shows flashes of the melodramatic sentimentality that would mark much of Rossellini's later work, it still rings true as a chronicle of a city under siege and as the genesis of a powerful new film style whose influences include such later filmmakers, among many others, as John Cassavetes, Martin Scorsese, Robert Altman, and Spike Lee.

This is the first film of Rossellini's War Trilogy.

Sample Clip (Download file for actual quality)

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1gMnM--ue465Uk7MipaMAccuWnTKT4bKA



Extras

• Introduction - presented here is an archival introduction by Roberto Rossellini which was filmed for Roberto Rossellini Presents, a 1963 French television series introducing his films. It was directed by Jean-Marie Coldefy. In French, with optional English subtitles. (4 min, 720p).

• Once Upon a Time... "Rome, Open City" - this documentary film examines the historic significance of Rome, Open City and Roberto Rossellini's shooting and stylistic preferences. Included in it are clips from archival interviews with directors Vittorio Taviani (The Night of the Shooting Stars), Federico Fellini, and Carlo Lizzani (Wake Up and Kill), actress Anna Magnani, Luca Magnani (son of Anna Magnani), critic Adriano Apra, and Isabella Rossellini, amongst others. The documentary was produced by Marie Genin and Serge July in 2006. In Italian, French, and English, with optional English subtitles where necessary. (53 min, 720p).

1. Nazi-occupied Rome
2. Demystifying the movie machine/Neorealism
3. Fascist-trained directors
4. The right timing/Anna Magnani
5. Anna, Romano, and the kids
6. Lighting, courage, success
7. Ingrid, genius, and morality

• Adriano Apra - presented here is an archival video interview with renowned Italian film historian, teacher, and critic Adriano Apra in which he discusses Roberto Rossellini's Rome, Open City and the socio-political environment in which the film was produced. The interview was conducted exclusively for Criterion in 2009. In Italian, with optional English subtitles. (13 min, 720p).

• Rossellini and the City - presented here is an archival video essay by writer Mark Shiel (Italian Neorealism: Rebuilding the Cinematic City) in which he discusses the topography in Roberto Rossellini's films Rome, Open City, Paisan, and Germany Year Zero and how it enhanced and ultimately defines their neorealistic qualities. The essay was created exclusively for Criterion in 2010. In English, not subtitled. (26 min, 720p).

• Father Virgilio Fantuzzi - in this archival video interview, Father Virgilio Fantuzzi, a film critic and friend of Roberto Rossellini, discusses the unique role religion has in Rome, Open City, and why contrary to his insistence that he was a non-believer his body of work actually speaks of someone deeply interested in religion. The interview was conducted exclusively for Criterion in 2009. In Italian, with optional English subtitles. (6 min, 720p).

• Commentary - this archival audio commentary features film scholar Peter Bondanella, author of The Films of Roberto Rossellini, and was recorded in 1995. It has already appeared on previous home video releases of Rome, Open City. [Sections listed in chapters]