If Rossellini’s first entry in his ‘war trilogy’ encompassed the emotional flaying of one city by conflict, its sequel, “Paisan,” depicts the devastation it wrought across an entire country.
Cities have souls. Countries have nationalism. And that is where the cores of “Rome, Open City” and “Paisan” diverge.
Part one, “Rome, Open City,” had a concentrated focus on a small group of anti-fascist revolutionaries. Their anger and losses were personal and palpable, even though their stakes were small.
Its ‘sequel,’ “Paisan,” is a six-segment anthology film that tracks the allied liberation of Italy from south to north. Characters do not overlap between the stories, but the theme is consistent:
There are gaps in language and communication, but they are nothing…