In an upscale district of Rome, a cosmopolitan American socialite named Irene Girard (Ingrid Bergman) hurries home with her pet in tow and is greeted by the concierge with the inconvenient news that the elevator is again out of service. It is a perfunctory irritation for the carefree and sophisticated expatriate whose pressing engagement is […]
Tag: Italian Cinema
The Flowers of St. Francis, 1950
In the midst of a torrential rain, Brother Francis of Assisi (Brother Nazario Gerardi) in the province of Umbria and his disciples arrive at their outpost in the rural village of Rivo Torto to seek shelter from the inclement weather, only to be driven away by a trespassing peasant who, along with his donkey, have […]
Germany, Year Zero, 1947
Amid the rubble of postwar Germany, a 12-year-old boy named Edmund (Edmund Moeschke) is hired to dig graves at a cemetery, then is chased away when he is unable to produce his work permit. It is Year Zero – the beginning of a divided Germany – and the country is faced with an uncertain future […]
Rome: Open City, 1946
Shortly after the liberation of Italy in 1945, Roberto Rossellini took to the war ravaged streets of Rome and filmed a highly unsettling, yet profoundly affirming story of the struggle and defiance of ordinary people in the face of human adversity, and created the indelible image of Open City. Using narrative, documentary styled filmmaking that […]
Rocco and His Brothers, 1960
Rocco and His Brothers chronicles the life of the Parondi family from the perspective of the five brothers as they seek a better life in the industrial city of Milan: Vincenzo (Spiros Focas), Simone (Renato Salvatoi), Rocco (Alain Delon), Ciro (Max Cartier), and Luca (Rocco Vidolazzi). Rosaria Parondi (Katina Paxinou), a proud, possessive widow, has […]
La Terra Trema: Episodio del Mare, 1948
On the idyllic Sicilian fishing village of Acitrezza, generations of the Valestro family have upheld the traditional vocation and simple existence of their ancestors, despite economic hardship and personal tragedy. The men (and even boys) earn their subsistence as hired fishermen for wealthy, opportunistic wholesale merchants who collude with rival merchants to depreciate the market […]