Roberto Rossellini

Roberto Rossellini (born May 8, 1906, Rome—died June 3, 1977, Rome) was one of the most widely known post-World War II motion-picture directors of Italy. His films Roma città aperta (1945; Open City) and Paisà (1946; Paisan) focussed international attention on the Italian Neorealist movement in films.

The son of a successful sculptor and architect, he travelled extensively throughout Europe. In 1931 his father’s fortune was confiscated by the Italian Fascist government, and three years later Rossellini began working at odd jobs in the cinema industry. He directed a full-length feature, La nave bianca (1941; White Ship), but navy officials objected to its antiwar tone. His name was removed from the film, and it was released anonymously.

During World War II he directed government propaganda short subjects but was also affiliated with the underground cinema movement that secretly recorded the activities of the anti-Fascist Resistance. Open City, which incorporated this documentary footage shot during the war, set the style for postwar Italian films in its use of natural settings and its realistic portrayal of life in Italy during the German occupation. It starred Anna Magnani in her first film role of substance. Internationally recognized as one of the most outstanding films of the postwar period, it earned Rossellini the title of “inventor” of Neorealism. Paisan, a series of six episodes of the war in Italy, also achieved worldwide recognition.

Rossellini’s technique of reconstructing actuality was continued in Germania, anno zero (1947; Germany, Year Zero) and India (1958). A concern with religion is evident in Francesco, giullare di Dio (1950; The Flowers of St. Francis), a series of anecdotes about St. Francis of Assisi. Stromboli, terra di Dio (1949; Stromboli) and Viaggio in Italia (1953; The Lonely Woman) were outstanding in a series of films exploring the meaning of freedom. They starred the actress Ingrid Bergman, whose love affair with Rossellini caused an international scandal. Their marriage in 1950, after both sought divorces from their first spouses, was annulled in 1958.

Rossellini’s next films—Il generale della Rovere (1959; General Della Rovere), which starred Vittorio De Sica, another leading Italian director; Viva l’Italia (1960; “Long Live Italy”); Era notte a Roma (1960; “It Was Night at Rome”); and Vanina Vanini (1961; The Betrayer)—exemplify a recurring patriotic theme. During the 1950s and ’60s Rossellini also directed a number of works for the stage, and he directed his first film for television in 1956. From 1964 he devoted himself to television films, including the biographical Socrate (1970).

Rossellini’s realistic style strongly influenced the development of important cinema talents, such as the director Federico Fellini, who came into prominence in the 1950s.