Been a long time! Hope you are well. I am introducing this film as part of a series on Italian Cinema at the Wilkinson Public Library in Telluride, CO where I have been living for the last seven years.

Your article is very helpful in my research and the comments I will make on the film.

David Oyster

While Vittorio De Sica’s SHOESHINE and THE BICYLCE THIEF are for me among the most potent docu-dramas of the Italian post-war period, they have a technical polish it seems Rossellini eschewed. Rossellini’s OPEN CITY precedes the two and emotionally devastates me on every viewing, partly due to acting and storytelling and partly through his raw use of the camera. Aldo Fabrizi’s murder brings anguish, as does Magnani’s desperate run, when gunned down in the gutter by German SS. Viewing Magnani’s abrupt and fatal collapse, one might surmise that Godard homaged the moment in BREATHLESS when the Belmondo character, running from the cops, is shot and spectacularly flips to his death.

Frankly, I’ve never been able to get through the whole of PAISAN. The Italian actors and ‘non-actors’ are compelling, but the performances by the American actors, their self-conscious dialogue, daunt me. However, I’ve just Netflixed GERMANY: YEAR ZERO, which I’ve never seen, and intend to revisit PAISAN.

Thank you for pointing out roots of the New-Wave in Rossellini’s trilogy. Clearly, as Godard — no slouch when it comes to ‘raw use of the camera’ – states: “All roads lead to ROME, OPEN CITY.”

Your blog should be required reading in film history classes!