• Notes on the End of Rome, Open City

    Author(s):
    Charles L. Leavitt IV (see profile)
    Date:
    2018
    Group(s):
    LLC 20th- and 21st-Century Italian
    Subject(s):
    Motion pictures, Motion pictures, Italian, History
    Item Type:
    Article
    Tag(s):
    Film, Italian cinema, Cinema, Cinema history, Modern Italian cinema
    Permanent URL:
    http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/j62j-yr61
    Abstract:
    Among the most iconic images in world cinema, the final shot of Rossellini's Rome Open City has inspired an effusion of critical commentary but little critical consensus, instead giving rise to opposing interpretations. I argue that the shot, in which the camera pans to follow a band of children as they march on a hillside overlooking the city of Rome, was shaped by a post-war dispute over the fate of Italian children after Fascism. Re-educating and re-claiming these children was felt to be one of the most pressing tasks facing Italy after the war, and I argue that it was this task that Rossellini and his collaborators sought to represent and even to undertake in their film. Thanks to their efforts, the final shot of Rome Open City facilitated both a compelling confrontation with Italy's Fascist past and a convincing-if far from straightforward-vision of its post-war future.
    Metadata:
    xml
    Published as:
    Journal article     Show details
    Pub. DOI:
    https://doi.org/10.1386/jicms.6.3.359_1
    Publisher:
    Intellect
    Pub. Date:
    2018-8-26
    Journal:
    Journal of Italian Cinema & Media Studies
    Volume:
    6
    Issue:
    3
    Page Range:
    359 - 372
    ISSN:
    2047-7368
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    3 years ago
    License:
    All Rights Reserved

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