Paisan  

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"In 1947, at the height of her fame as the leading Hollywood star, Ingrid Bergman saw Rossellini's Open City and Paisan, his two neorealist masterpieces, in a small New York theater."--Enjoy Your Symptom! (1992) by Slavoj Žižek

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Paisan (Paisà, literally "[Fellow] countryman") is a 1946 Italian neorealist war drama 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. A major theme is communication problems due to language barriers.

The film was nominated for both the Academy Award for Best Writing (Original Screenplay) and the BAFTA Award for Best Film from any source. It was the most popular Italian film at the box office in 1945–46, finishing ahead of Mario Mattoli's melodrama Life Begins Anew.

Contents

Plot

1st Episode

During the Allied invasion of Sicily, an American reconnaissance patrol makes its way to a 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 small German reconnaissance patrol reaches 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

The Allies invade mainland Italy and capture the port of Naples. An orphaned street urchin named Pasquale (Alfonsino Pasca) happens upon Joe (Dots Johnson), an embittered, completely 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 a drunken American soldier in liberated Rome. A young woman, Francesca, takes him to her room, hoping to earn a little money through prostitution. He is not interested and tells her of his futile search for a young woman he met and fell in love with shortly after the liberation of the city, six months before. As he describes the woman, Francesca realizes that she is the woman; both of them have changed so much in the short time that has passed, they did not recognize each other. Francesca says she knows the woman. When Fred falls asleep, Francesca slips out, asking the building superintendent to give Fred a slip of paper with her address on it when he awakes and leaves. Fred assumes the address is that of a whorehouse, throws the piece of paper away and leaves the city with his unit. The next day, Francesca waits in vain for him.

4th Episode

The southern half of Florence is freed, but fierce fighting continues in the other half, across the Arno river, between Italian partisans and the Germans and their die-hard fascist allies. All the bridges except 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", leader of the local partisans. She and partisan Massimo (Renzo Avanzo), a man desperate for news of his family, risk their lives and cross into the still-occupied city through the supposedly secret Vasari Corridor, which, when Rossellini filmed it, was still mostly empty of its art collection. While managing to get across to the other side, Harriet and Massimo find themselves in the middle of a war-torn Florence. After a fire fight against partisans by a German patrol, Harriet carries a wounded soldier to a doorway. She is devastated to learn that Lupo has been killed.

5th Episode

Three American military chaplains are welcomed to stay the night at a newly liberated Roman Catholic monastery. Captain Bill Martin (William Tubbs), who is the only one of the chaplains who speaks Italian, acts as interpreter. The monks are dismayed to learn from Martin that only he is a Catholic; his two colleagues are a Protestant and a Jew. When the guests and their hosts sit down to supper, Martin observes that the monks have nothing on their plates. He inquires and learns that the monks have decided to fast in the hope of gaining the favor of Heaven to convert the other two to their faith.

6th Episode

In December 1944, three members of the OSS are operating behind German lines with Italian partisans in the Po delta. They rescue two downed British airmen, but run out of ammunition in 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.




Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Paisan" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.

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