Paisan (1946)

As the Allies begin their invasion of Italy in 1943, Roberto Rossellini tells us half a dozen stories that might have occurred as the largely American army made their way through the country heading for Rome. These stories are not connected in any individual way, only by virtue of their providing some interesting vignettes illustrating the attitudes of the locals they encounter and the soldier's own behaviour. As they move from Sicily on up the peninsula, we meet a population who have had different experiences of the war so far - some barely touched by it, some deeply so - and the US forces are not universally welcomed. I won't try to explain the plots of each of these episodes, but suffice to say that they each have a potency that demonstrates quite well the ravages of war on both the victors and the losers - and it's not always immediately clear whom is whom! My personal favourite involves a young, homeless and streetwise scrounger who takes advantage of a sozzled soldier only to end up back in his war-torn hometown where the seizure of a pair of boots is rather put into context. There's some philosophy here, too. The sense that all are united against a common enemy until the fractured nature of human nature re-emerges, and things like religion start to re-impose a sometimes quite questionable dogma on a previously conjoined family of beliefs and opinions is effectively presented. These are six mini-adventures. One or two of them may deal more with the romantic or personal aspects of war, but all are delivered under a fairly constant threat from bullets and bombs that culminates well with a scenario that sort of offers us the wartime equivalent of snagging! The last few pockets of resistance to the advancing forces proving dangerously effective and highly tenacious. There's something intensely plausible about these dramatisations - the Italians all speak in their own tongue; the production uses intimate photography and grand scale cinematography as well as maintaining a palpable sense of menace throughout. This is certainly amongst the best of the genre.