A classic I probably took too long to see, Roberto Rossellini's Rome, Open City is a powerful film about an Italian resistance fighter hiding from the Nazis at the height of World War II. Well made, powerful, and darker than one might expect, the film is the first of Rossellini's War trilogy, also consisting of Paisa and Germany, Year Zero (which I'll be watching next), three important Italian films about the struggle for freedom and liberation. Rome, Open City is the most popular of the three, and while I wasn't won over by it like some were, there are some genuinely powerful moments and it is an important film.

Film #7 of 14 Decades, 14 Films Project.

Rome, Open City show us the lives of some Resistance members in Rome against the Nazi occupation.

This is a really moving film, with wonderful characters and acting from the beginnings of the neorealism, which became an aesthetic model in Italy.

This is one of the best war movies I ever saw and I really recommend it to everyone.

Classic example of the limitations of a film creating more freedom of expression and a more intense personal piece. It is very powerful knowing that those bombed out and scarred buildings and streets are that way because the Nazis had only left months before and the Fascists had only recently lost power.

A sad, gritty and exciting story. Never feels like a history lesson even though are learning so much.

An comparative essay needs to be written between this and Zero Dark Thirty and the role of religion in war. A stunning picture. Will write more when I finish the trilogy and have time to think about it.

I admit: from the beginning, I was fighting disinterest and aloofness when watching this (and it is slow-going- a bit tedious and hard to follow early on)... but I am glad I fought it and stuck it out. This movie gets better by the minute, building to a powerful second half- especially the final 20 minutes- especially the last scene.

"Its not hard to die a good death. What's hard is to live a good life."

How nice of him to offer a cigarette

This review reportedly contains spoilers. I can handle the truth.

Amazing. At once a scathing indictment of the Nazi occupation in Rome, as well as a tribute to the underground resistance movement.

The end of both parts are shocking and heart-wrenching.

A powerful, magnificent, and brave film for it's time.

Very powerful and emotional, a no holds barred film. Terrific performances, it felt so real at times I forgot I was watching a film. The ending is superbly done, very harrowing.

This film has introduced me to the cinema of Roberto Rossellini and is part of his War Trilogy, films depicting the consequences, hardships, psychological turmoils and spiritual perseverance during World War Two. Outstanding performances, fantastic use of editing and mise en scene and the screenplay provide for one of the most claustrophobically tense wartime atmospheres I've seen on cinema.

Though there's no shortage of war movies out there Rome, Open City will hit a chord in your jaded heart.

I haven't been so inspired by a film in a long time. Shocking, honest, beautiful at times...one of the most powerful films I've seen all year. Truly deserves its reputation.

A beautiful portrait of people willing to sacrifice for something greater than themselves, of love for another that pursues at all costs, and of honorable lives in the face of dishonorable oppression. Rome was still in the midst of WWII during filming, meaning that actual piles of rubble from the war and troops roaming the streets lent themselves to a political and spiritual immediacy that is unmistakable.