Is given a lot of power by the circumstances of its creation but once the movie was over I found the effect evaporated on contact with air. And it was a bit much at times (Passion sequence for a Communist, juvenile explosives brigade, ice queen lesbian nazi…), it feels filled with tropes and archetypes in today's eyes, but this all feels kind of unavoidable being released so soon after the end of WWII while Europe was still grappling with its identities.
Loved Don Pietro but was admittedly less invested in act two without Anna Magnani's character.
