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Paisà
Roberto Rossellini’s ambitious and enormously moving follow-up to his breakthrough Rome, Open City.
Director: Roberto Rossellini
Overview
Roberto Rossellini’s ambitious and enormously moving follow-up to Rome, Open City. Made in the aftermath of the Second World War, Paisà is constructed as a series of six encounters which take place during the liberation of Italy as Allied troops advance through the country from Sicily to the northern Po Valley, via Rome and Florence.
Shot on location using a non-professional cast alongside actors, the semi-documentary aesthetic and epic sweep of Paisà is both both charming and devastating in its portrayal of the final days of war and the confusion that follows in its wake. Paisà forms the second part of Rossellini’s acclaimed War Trilogy and is a classic of neo-realist cinema. Ranked joint 196th in the 2022 Sight and Sound Great Films of All Time poll
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