Category: Best Writing

The second of Rossellini’s war trilogy, this collection of six different episodes tell of a variety of experiences had during the Italian Campaign: an Italian woman agrees to guide American soldiers through a German minefield, a Neapolitan street urchin befriends a drunken Black soldier only to steal his boots after he falls asleep, a different American soldier meets an Italian prostitute only for her to realize they’ve met before, an American nurse and Italian man together risk their lives through battling areas to find news of loved ones, three American chaplains of different religious persuasions take refuge in an Italian Catholic monastery, and members of the OSS fight alongside Italian partisans in the Po delta. . The stories, each written by a different screenwriter, vary in strength but all focus in some way on the interactions between Italian citizens and Allied military members. Language barriers and suspicions of loyalty often get in the way of accomplishing goals and finding peace. 

Oscar Nomination: Best Writing, Story and Screenplay

The first film in Roberto Rossellini’s war trilogy, this was secretly filmed during the Nazi occupation of Rome and follows a group of people coping with the occupation, most notably a Resistance fighter trying to find a way out of the city with the help of a Catholic priest. The realism of the film is sometimes difficult to watch. History has painted Italy during World War II with the broad brush of being an part of the Axis powers, but this film powerfully explores what happened afterward when they were subjected to the same atrocities the Nazis had been committing throughout Europe. Additionally there is an intriguing exploration on religion and faith and how one can hold on to such things while bearing witness to such atrocities. 

Oscar Nomination: Best Writing, Screenplay

Renate Reinsve is a directionless 20-something whose experiences in various jobs and relationships are chronicled over the course of fourteen chapters. While the film had a few poignant moments, overall, I didn’t relate to the main character, especially as the film progressed, nor the decisions she made in her aimlessness. In fact, all of the characters that receive any narrative in the film come off as potentially interesting at first only to reveal them as dull and dislikable. Regardless, I found the chapter divisions interesting in that they jumped in and out of the main character’s life, though they like everything else in the film got less engaging as the film continued. Reinsve’s performance is strong; it just seems that the narrative didn’t really know what to do with her.

Oscar Nominations: Best Original Screenplay; Best International Feature Film