Film of the Day: 21

Paisan (1946)

During the days of the second world, Italy was still a Kingdom ruled by the House of Savoy.  On May 10th, 1946 a new King named Umberto became new the King of Italy but it would be only 21 days until a referendum was held.  It was 1946 today that the Italian constitutional referendum was held and the people (54.3%) chose a Republic Italy rather than a Monarchy.  And Umberto II of Savoy, the King of May was removed and exiled from Italy.  Two years later the new Flag of the Italian Republic (the flag as we know it today) was put in use as of January 1st 1948; also know in Italy as "il Tricolore".

This film may not be about the Republic of Italy but was released that very same year and is known as one of Italy's greatest Neo Realism films.  It is the second of three films in director Roberto Rossellini's wonderful trilogy, the first being one of my personal favourite Italian films, Rome, Open City from 1945 and the screenplay was partly written by the great Federico Fellini.

All three films are set in the Second World War when Nazi Germany was losing the war, showing the difficulties within the country, the Italians trying to fight off or escape the faith of the fascists. Even the basic communication problems of people speaking different languages.  These films were also a very emotional experience as we see the children dealing with the situation of war and conflict as well .  Along with the people who were either running in fear, doing what they can to survive or even fighting for what they believe in and dying for their country.  As shown in the first film Rome, Open City by a priest played by the magnificent Aldo Fabrizi.

Criterion Box Collection

This film however has a little more humour in the screenplay, and also shows more romance.  Bosley Crowther of the New York Times went so far as to call it a "a milestone in the expressiveness of the screen".  It was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Writing (Original Screenplay), and back in 1946, it was very uncommon for a foreign language film to be nominated for an Oscar.  However on March 27, 1957 the Best Foreign Language Film category was finally introduced.

Click here for a clip on the thrilogy