Once Upon a Time...Rome, Open City 2006
Distributed by First Run/Icarus Films, 32 Court St., 21st Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11201; 800-876-1710
Producer n/a
Directed by Marie Genin
DVD, color, 52 min.
College - Adult
Film Studies
Date Entered: 01/14/2008
Reviewed by Oksana Dykyj, Head, Visual Media Resources, Concordia University, Montreal“My main goal is to offer material to think” says Roberto Rossellini in an on-camera interview. Segments of this interview as well as many others are featured in Marie Genin and Serge July’s Once Upon a Time...Rome, Open City and are the starting points for their investigation of the far-reaching influence the now canonic Rome, Open City has had.
This documentary is a scholar’s dream in that it provides access to numerous sources of important archival footage and clearly cites the source, the year, the speaker during the documentary as well as supplying more complete references in the end credits. This film is one of those rare contemporary documentaries which doesn’t leave viewers questioning who is speaking, or when the footage was shot, or where the excerpt is from. This is precisely the type of information that contextualizes the experience of getting to know the artist and his work, and is far from superfluous or distracting as some contemporary documentarians appear to mistakenly believe.
Rossellini’s own words about the liberation of Rome and the making of the film provide a more poignant counterpoint to the clips from the film and the filmmakers’ recent revisiting of the locations seen in the film. Federico Fellini, the co-author of the script, describes Rossellini’s style in a 1982 interview and there are valuable clips from interviews with Vittorio Taviani and Francois Truffaut who discuss his notable contributions. In this calibre of documentary one expects interviews with colleagues and family (Isabella Rossellini, Ingrid Bergman, Anna Magnani, Aldo Fabrizi, Luca Magnani) but not an absolutely surprising and interesting key archival interview with Vittorio Mussolini with whom Rossellini had dealings in his pre-Rome, Open City days when he made “propaganda” films.
Once Upon a Time...Rome, Open City presents both the backstory and the inspiration Rossellini’s film provided to other filmmakers while at the same time allowing its filmmakers to recognize an artist in their own precisely crafted film. Their reverence for their subject is acknowledged through their carefully planned and edited film. Very highly recommended for anyone interested in film history, scholar or enthusiast.