Rome Open City Film by Rossellini

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Rome, Open City
The scenes of war-torn Roman streets in the Rome, Open City of Rossellini portray a true picture of the events during the Nazi occupation of Rome. They are also reflection of neo-realism in the film. Though most scenes of the film were shot on sets, scenes showing fighting on streets, rubble-strewn alleys, scarred buildings and frightened people are the true reflection of neo-realism. For making the film a true picture of the historical events, Rossellini avoided using many conventional techniques of film-making of that time. The thing which makes the Rome, Open City different from the other conventional dramas of war is that the story of the film is very to close the actual events the people of Rome experienced during the Nazi occupation and after the withdrawal of Germans. Scenes about the use of torture by German soldiers on the streets of Rome, especially in the areas of Jews, how Rossellini gave much importance to the real events took place in Rome during the occupation. The using of scenes of German forces` brutality on the streets of Rome is a unique style of Rossellini which made this film different from the other conventional films on war. According to Gottlieb (2004) "the studio tough is, for the most part, blessedly missing. Street scene follows street scene in which the people act like people, not actors" (165).
The film begins with a scene on a street of Rome where German soldiers march in the dark night after the occupation of the city. They were singing songs for their homeland in a tone of triumph. On the other hand, local people who were listening the soldiers from their besieged homes were in a sense of fear. For them the song of German soldier was a melody of horror. By the first scene of the film it can be understood that how Rossellini presented a sense of fear which had been prevailing in the people of Rome during the Nazi occupation. The first scene shows that German soldiers, who were in search of a member of resistance group, invaded a building and frightened two old women to ascertain the whereabouts of the member.
The first scene of the film is enough to place the audience in the realm of horror. It presents a true picture of the streets of Rome when the people of this city see foreign troops surrounding their homes and treating them badly. The scene presents an atmosphere of fear and anarchy. The following scene of the film, though not on a street but in the office of the commanding officer of the Germans Major Bergmann, tells about the horror and the brutality of German soldiers the film is going to portray in its following scenes. The discussion between German military officers makes it clear that they are in city to terrorize civilians.
Though Rossellini`s Rome, Open City was not made in the conventional style of documentary film-making, the film introduced something new which recognized at that time as neo-realism. The film can be called a transitional film which tried to combine features of Italian neo-realism with the components of conventional studio m...