esrosedotblog

CUSP

Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Roberto Rossellini's

Roma, città aperta / Open City (1945)

It is on the edge of the end of WWII, at the point of cinema verité, at the time of great change in the art of cinema itself; Fellini is one of the writers.

Look at the link to see how it was made. It is believed that a few shots were actually filmed during the wartime.

It is tough and grainy to watch and the subtitles are way incomplete but its impact holds even today.

Of course, I am in the middle of a lot of reading about the War and the times running up to it so I am highly sensitized to see this now.

Its impact is very deep.

There are a lot of analogies about superpowers then and now; torture to get 'what we have to know'; the ways of collaborators and so on.

A lot of lessons are here, most of which would go over the student's heads.

There has been some criticism of the film because it is 'communist'. Well, the hero is/was. He was part of the Resistance.

That is about all of the party line that I saw but back then we were super sensitive about that shit. But then, I have been called a commie too here and there in my past so who am I to judge?

The kids are used as a kind of greek chorus throught the film; the future of Italy.

I will give it a 5 out of Netflix5.