Whenever the term Italian Neo-realism, a national film movement developed between 1943 and 1952, where films presented the stark reality of post-war Europe through the pitiful narrative of poverty, oppression, and desperation, is talked about, one cannot help but remember Roberto Rossellini’s Rome, Open City; a film historically and emotionally linked to the birth of Italian neo-realism.

  Robert Rossellini was born on May 8, 1906, in Rome, into a wellto-do Roman family. His father’s involvement in the design and construction of the Cinema Corso was a coincidence that seems to foretell his choice of profession. But apart from that, nothing in Rossellini’s early years indicated that his name would be connected to Italian cinema. If anything, his excellent social and economic position projected him to become a playboy rather than a film director of repute.

  Rossellini’s war trilogy: Rome, Open City, Paisa and Germany and....