Rome Open City was another great film I watched during week 3. Other than Cinema Paradiso, Rome Open City was a close first for my overall favorite films I have watched so far. Rome Open City did a great job at illustrating the beginning of WWII; more so, I felt like even though it was a war focused film, I was still able to relate to the characters. In the beginning of the film I found it difficult to stay focused but as soon as Pina was killed I felt like it symbolized a sort of defiance against injustice; furthermore, there was nothing in the film that prepared me for that moment so it was even more memorable and significant. I felt as if that scene layed down the foundation for the rest of the film. I found it interesting that Pina portrayed Teresa Gullace back in WWII. The film did a great job at incorporating actual events and real people such as Pina. The film conveyed how supportive and loyal the partisans were towards each other. Manfredi and Don Pietro demonstrated the extent to which they were willing to sacrifice their lives if it meant not giving Gestapo what he wanted. The ending of the movie struck a chord with me because it illustrated how brutal the times were back then and that executing someone was not a big deal to the Fascists. I found it interesting that the camera showed the expressions of the children after Don Pietro’s killing, it signified a moment of the children realizing that something was wrong with what had been done to Don Pietro. A camera movement that was incorporated in Rome Open City was panning which was used in the opening and closing of the film to establish location. Lastly, I’d like to mention how I found it odd that even though Rome Open City was made to make known the lives of Italians during WWII and the underground resistance, the film was advertised to Americans in a provocative way. I felt as if this fact led into the later accounts I will touch on such as Schoonover.
Shiel did a good job giving readers an understanding as to how Rome Open City was the beginning of neorealism. Shiel believed that we had to first understand the Italian city, urbanization, and its representation in order to understand neorealism. Throughout all the neorealist films I have watched so far I find Shiels account accurate. The visual style we see in Rome Open City is the use of non professional actors, location shooting rather than studio shooting, and a preference for natural light (mise-en-scene). I felt that Rome Open City did a great job given the extreme financial situation they were in at the time and the fact that in 1944-1945 most of the filming equipment was removed by Germans and the Italian Fascists. Neorealism was the driving force in making known the lives of ordinary Italians at the end of WWII, Rome Open City captured the ambition of the underground resistance against Fascists and Nazis according to Shiel. I thoroughly enjoyed Shiels reading because after watching Rome Open City I was able to make real connections through Shiels voice and the film. I would not have guessed that the actors were non-professional and that the production was on a strict budget; however, after reading Shiels account I was more appreciative of the film and all the work put into it.
Bazin introduced us to viewing Paisan as one of the Italian films that fit into the realist spectrum. The style of the film Paisan is a dynamic principle in the narrative by helping the audience understand and feel what they are watching. Paisan is the first film I have watched in this course that is a series of six short stories all interrelated by their shared history to the Italian Liberation. In this film I noticed that the use of natural light and location shooting resembles neorealist films to a tee. In the fifth episode where the monks find out that two out of the three men are not Catholic, I felt like it demonstrated how strong the Catholic religion is and how seriously they adhere to it. It was neat seeing that everyone was still able to get along despite their differences in beliefs. In the fifth episode, the Americans hand out chocolate bars to the monks more than one time. I wonder if there was significance in the chocolate bars meaning that it was common for soldiers to keep chocolate bars on them during the war.
Even though I felt that Schoonovers reading was difficult I was able to pull out his main theme being that neorealism lies between sensational rawness and world understanding. Schoonover examines several different accounts of neorealism; however, he continued to argue promotional advertisements that make neorealist films into something more or less sexual/intimate hinders the spectator from seeing the specific post-war mode aspect. I enjoyed Schoonovers main argument, especially towards the end where he says conveys to his readers that neorealist films can be a foundation for training and moving American spectators from affectionate involvement to concerned detachment.