Paisà

Paisà
Directed by	Roberto Rossellini
Produced by	Rod E. Geiger Roberto Rossellini Mario Conti
Written by	Sergio Amidei Klaus Mann Federico Fellini Marcello Pagliero Alfred Hayes Vasco Pratolini
Narrated by	Giulio Panicali
Starring	Carmela Sazio Robert Van Loon Dots Johnson Alfonsino Maria Michi Gar Moore Harriet Medin Renzo Avanzo William Tubbs Dale Edmonds Cigolani
Music by	Renzo Rossellini
Cinematography	Otello Martelli
Editing by	Eraldo Da Roma
Distributed by	Arthur Mayer and Joseph Burstyn
Release date(s)	10 December 1946 (1946-12-10)
Running time	134 minutes
Country	Italy
Language	Italian English

Paisà is a 1946 Italian film directed by Roberto Rossellini, the second of a trilogy by Rossellini. It is divided into six episodes. They are set in the Italian Campaign during World War II when Nazi Germany was losing the war against the Allies, using themes such as the difficulty of communication between people who do not speak the same language, and how they seek to understand each other.

It was nominated for both the Academy Award for Best Writing (Original Screenplay) and the BAFTA Award for Best Film from any source.

Plot

1st Episode

During the Allied invasion of Sicily, a small American reconnaissance patrol makes its way to an Sicilian village at night. Only one of the Americans speaks Italian. Local Carmela (Carmela Sazio) agrees to guide them past a German minefield. They take shelter in the ruins of a seaside castle. While the others take a look around, Joe (Robert Van Loon) is assigned to keep an eye on Carmela. Despite the language barrier, Joe starts to overcome her indifference. However, he is shot by a German sniper. Before the Germans reach the castle, Carmela hides Joe in the basement. When the Germans send her for water, she sneaks back and checks on Joe, only to find him dead. She takes his rifle and starts shooting at the enemy. The Germans throw her off a cliff to her death and leave. When the Americans return, they find Joe's body and assume Carmela killed him.

2nd Episode

With the Allies fighting on mainland Italy, the port of Naples is captured. An orphaned street urchin named Pasquale (Alphonsino Pasca) happens upon Joe (Dots Johnson), an embittered, somewhat drunk African-American soldier. When Joe falls asleep, Pasquale takes his boots. The next day, Joe, a military policeman, nabs Pasquale in the act of stealing supplies from a truck. Joe demands his boots back, but when the boy takes him to where he lives, the sight of the squalor causes Joe to leave without them.

3rd Episode

Fred (Gar Moore) is one of the soldiers who helps liberate Rome. During a rest stop, he gets out of his tank and persuades city resident Francesca (Maria Michi) to let him wash up in her apartment. In the little time they spend together, they are attracted to each other, and Fred promises to return.

Six months later, Fred is back in Rome, where he is taken by a street prostitute back to her place. He wants nothing to do with her; instead he tells her how he futilely searched for Francesca, not recognizing her as the prostitute. When he falls asleep, Francesca slips out, asks the building manager to give her home address to Fred when he wakes up, and hopefully changes into more demure clothing. However, she waits in vain; the now-cynical Fred throws away the piece of paper with her address on it and heads back to his unit.

4th Episode

The southern half of Florence is freed, but fierce fighting continues across the river in the other half between Italian partisans and the Germans and their die-hard fascist supporters. All the bridges other than the Ponte Vecchio have been blown up, stalling the Allied advance. American nurse Harriet (Harriet Medin) is frantic to get across and be reunited with a painter. She learns that he is now "Lupo", the leader of the partisans. She and partisan Massimo (Renzo Avanzo), a man desperate for news of his family, risk their lives and find a way across. However, Harriet is devastated to learn that Lupo has been killed.

5th Episode

Three American chaplains are welcomed to stay the night at a newly-liberated Roman Catholic monastery. However, the monks are later dismayed to find that only Captain Bill Martin (William Tubbs) is a Catholic; his friends are a Protestant and a Jew. When they sit down to supper, Martin learns that the monks have decided to fast in hopes of gaining the favor of Heaven to convert the other two.

6th Episode

In 1944, three members of the Allied OSS are operating behind German lines with Italian partisans. They rescue two downed British airmen, but run out of ammunition during a battle with the enemy and are captured. The partisans are summarily executed the next day, as they are not protected by the Geneva Conventions; two of the outraged prisoners of war are shot when they try to interfere.

Critical reception

Bosley Crowther of the New York Times hailed it, writing it "marks a milestone in the expressiveness of the screen." He went on to say "It is useless to attempt an explanation, in familiar and concrete terms, of its basic theme and nature, for it is not an ordinary film—neither in form nor dramatic construction nor in the things it has to say", "the antithesis of the classic 'story film'". He ended his review with "This is a film to be seen—and seen again."

TV Guide called it "perhaps Rossellini's greatest achievement", "a wartime portrait full of humor, pathos, romance, tension, and warmth", and "a film unlike any other the world had seen". "PAISAN highlights the power of the neorealist style better than almost any other film."

The Chicago Reader's Dave Kehr observed that "The episodes all seem to have an anecdotal triteness ... but each acquires a wholly unexpected naturalness and depth of feeling from Rossellini's refusal to hype the anecdotes with conventional dramatic rhetoric."

All eight Rotten Tomatoes reviews are favorable toward the film.

Influence

Roberto Rossellini's film would inspire future directors, such as Italian Gillo Pontecorvo, to become filmmakers themselves. Later, Pontecorvo would create films, like Battle of Algiers (1967), in which he adopted Rosselini’s techniques of using non-professional actors and real locations.

External links

• Paisà at the Internet Movie Database
• Paisà at the TCM Movie Database
• Paisà at AllRovi
• Paisà at Entrada Franca (Portuguese)