Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Top Ranked Films of Roberto Rossellini

Rossellini, Roberto
6 titles, 50th in points with 14,671

Rossellini was part of the wave of post-war Italian realists, that included Fellini, Antonioni, De Sica, Visconti, Ormi and others. Their influence affected a later wave of creative Italian filmmakers such as Bertolucci, Leoni, Monicelli, Caviani, and Wertmuller. Rossellini is as reknowned for his long-time affair with actress Ingrid Bergman [photo above], with whom he had daugher Isabella Rossellini, the actress. Perhaps not as celebrated as some others, but his war trilogy consisting of Paisan, Rome Open City, and Germany, Year Zero are among the best Italian postwar films that dealt with the plight of ordinary citizens as a result of the war.

These are all the films of Italian director Roberto Rossellini’s that made the top 1000 in our 2011 update of the Top Ranked 1000 Films on the Net, all polls.

1. Paisan (1946) #280
2. Rome, Open City (1945) #291
3. Rise to Power of Louis XIV, The (1966) #399
4. Voyage in Italy (1953) #532
5. Germany, Year Zero (1947) #580
6. Europa '51 (1952) #841
7. Stromboli (1950) #1012
8. Flowers of St. Francis, The (1950) #1231

His best films are not pleasant, but he told a story that needed to be told in each. My favorites would be: 1-Rome, Open City; 2-Germany, Year Zero; 3-Paisan

I didn't like Louis XIV very much, and was bored by Flowers of St. Francis. The others I haven't seen yet.

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