Rome, Open City Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

Rome, Open City Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov April 19, 2015

Winner of the Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, Roberto Rossellini's "Roma, Cita Aperta" a.k.a. "Rome, Open City" (1945), arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of the British Film Institute. The only supplemental feature on the disc is Laura Muscardin's documentary "Children of Open City" (2005). In Italian and German, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".

"You did not talk..."

Note: Roma, Cita Aperta is part of the British Film Institute's Rossellini: The War Trilogy three-disc limited edition Blu-ray box set.

Roma, Cita Aperta was shot on the streets of the Italian capital literally a few months after the allied liberation. It has a distinctively raw appearance and an atmosphere that effectively separate it from other similarly themed films from the same era.

The film tells a story but does not have traditional central characters. Initially, the camera follows closely Giorgio (Marcello Pagliero, Roma città libera), an idealistic resistance leader, who has become an important target for the ambitious Gestapo officer Bergmann (Henry Feist). Giorgio decides to hide in the apartment of close friend Francesco, and while waiting for him, he encounters his fiancée, Pina (Anna Magnani, Mamma Roma), a kind widow who lives life one day at a time. Pina quickly sends her son Marcello (Vito Annichiarico) to bring back Don Pietro (Aldo Fabrizi), a catholic priest who has been assisting the resistance movement and knows how to help Giorgio transfer money to other fighters across the country.

On the day of Francesco and Pina’s wedding, the Nazis surround the neighborhood and begin searching for Giorgio. He manages to escape and contacts a beautiful cabaret actress (Maria Michi, Last Tango in Paris) with whom he once had an affair. Soon after, someone points Gestapo in the right direction and Giorgio, Don Pietro and other resistance sympathizers are promptly arrested.

The film is broken into multiple episodes that focus on different events. Virtually all of them are staged, but they don’t follow the conventional rules of continuity. As a result, one gets the impression that many of them were captured by the camera as they occurred in real time and are presented unedited.

The relationships between the main characters are clearly identified, but their evolution is secondary. A character can make a dramatic appearance in one episode and then be completely ignored for the rest of the film. Another character can exit the film at a time when it would appear that it will surely have an important role during the eventual resolution.

The city appears as the one and only character whose past and future will be remembered. It has been brought to its knees and forced to endure human madness, but occasionally it shows signs of life. There are a few panoramic sequences that look quite beautiful, but the rest of the footage is notably raw and depressing.

Magnani and Fabrizi are astonishing, but the entire cast deserves a lot of praise for the film’s tremendous power. Watch the sequence with the kids whistling the partisan tune before the execution and you will understand why.

Roberto Rossellini shot Rome, Open City with cinematographer Ubaldo Arata. It is the first film in his acclaimed War Trilogy. The other two films are Paisà a.k.a. Paisan (1946) and Germania anno zero a.k.a. Germany Year Zero (1948).

Rome, Open City Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.37:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Roberto Rossellini's Rome, Open City arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of the British Film Institute.

The following text precedes the film's opening credits:

"The digital restoration of Rome, Open City was based on the original image and soundtrack negatives and a vintage fine-grain print preserved at CSC - Cineteca Nazionale. The restoration work was carried out by Cineteca di Bologna and CSC - Cineteca Nazionale at L'Immagine Ritrovata laboratory in 2013."

There are sizable improvements in every single area we typically address in our reviews. Detail and clarity have benefited the most from the 4K restoration, but there are numerous excellent stabilization improvements as well. Some minor fluctuations remain -- there are some minor contrast fluctuations and a few shaky transitions -- but this is the most stable and balanced presentation of the film that I have seen to date. The high-quality scanning has ensured that grain is evenly distributed throughout the entire film. Many of the outdoor sequences, for instance, look quite beautiful (see screencaptures #2 and 12). Unfortunately, there are also traces of light filtering corrections. As a result, image depth isn't as impressive as it should have been. In select areas the filtering corrections have also affected the balance between the blacks and grays (the natural fading has also contributed to it in a couple of different sequences, but the effects caused by the fading are very different). As a result, existing detail has been lost and some flatness introduced. You can see examples of the filtering in screencapture #10 (right side of the frame), screencapture #16 (left side of the frame/fur) and screencapture #19 (definition suffers across the entire frame). Still, despite the sporadic unevenness it is difficult not to agree that this is the best Rome, Open City has ever looked. However, it is also true that the film could have looked absolutely magnificent on Blu-ray. My score is 3.75/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).

Rome, Open City Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: Italian LPCM 2.0 (with small portions of German and a few lines in English). Optional English subtitles have been provided for the main feature.

Depth and clarity are good. Also, balance and stability have been improved. The background hiss that is present on other home video releases of Rome, Open City has been attenuated, but plenty of it remains. Some extremely light pops are also present. Occasionally, some thinning is also noticeable. All of these limitations, however, are inherited. There are no audio dropouts. The English translation is excellent.

Rome, Open City Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Children of Open City (2005) - presented here is Laura Muscardin's documentary Children of Open City which takes a closer look at the production history of Roberto Rossellini's famous film. Included in it are clips from interviews with Rnzo Rossellini, Marcella De Marchis Rossellini, Luca Magnani, Tag Gallagher, Sandro Venturini, and Carlo Lizzani, amongst others. In Italian and English, with imposed English subtitles where necessary. (53 min).

Rome, Open City Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The new 4K restoration of Roberto Rossellini's Rome, Open City will almost certainly remain the definitive presentation of this monumental film. The technical work that has been done is magnificent and there are some truly dramatic improvements. However, the film could have looked even better. There are some digital adjustments that have been added up after the scanning and the repair work which I don't think are entirely appropriate. Nevertheless, the Blu-ray release does represent a major upgrade in quality over existing DVD releases of Rome, Open City. RECOMMENDED.