The Children Are Watching Us

As Don Pietro is executed for his participation in the Resistance, his only witnesses are a group of children who whistle him a tune.  Afterward these same children march back into Rome as the movie ends.  What do your make of this ending?  Other examples of children acting and watching in the movie include Romoletto blowing up a truck and Marcello helping Don Pietro rescue Romoletto and watching his mother's murder.   What is the role of children -- and children watching adults -- in this film?

Christ or Marx?

Rome Open City portrays (even celebrates) the alliance during the Resistance between the Catholics (exemplified by Don Pietro) and the Marxists (exemplified by Manfredi) to combat the Nazis.  Both groups set aside their ideological differences and suffer together in the process.  But what is the ideology behind this movie?  What is the meaning of this suffering?  Is it the Christian idea of redemptive suffering in which an omnibenevolent God turns suffering into joy?  Or is it the Marxist idea that suffering is part of the dialectic of history leading to the inevitable Marxist state?  There are several examples of Christian iconography in this film: images of a pieta (Mary holding her dead son), crucifixion, and sacrificial lambs.  Do these images indicate a Christian interpretation of the film -- or can they be interpreted in a more secular way?  Is this a Christian or Marxist film -- or are these categories too simplistic?

How Real is Rome?

Rome, Open City is generally viewed as the first (or the first celebrated) example of Italian neo-realism, a movement know for an almost documentary-like style that included shooting on location, utilizing non-professional actors, and telling ordinary stories about ordinary, working class people.  Yet, Rome sometimes violates these rules.  Many of the most important scenes are filmed in a studio that devised an intricate set for the Gestapo office, torture room, and officer's club.  Some of the most important actors -- Aldo Fabrizi (Don Pietro) and Anna Magnani (Pina)-- are established actors (although in comic roles).  Furthermore there are elements of melodrama in the characters and plot, such as the portrayal of the Gestapo officers are cruel and sexually perverted.  Is this truly an example of "realism"?  Or is it something else?

Jigsaw Narrative

Multiple narrators tell he story of Charles Foster Kane's life.  We see his life in a newsreel format, in Thatcher's memoirs, and as told by Bernstein, Leland, Susan Alexander, and even Raymond, the butler.  What is the point of telling the story in this way?  Does each narrator give a specific "spin" or have a particular bias?  Does each see a distinctive aspect of Kane's personality?  Is each section told in a different way, utilizing different techniques of filming (such as camera angles, deep focus, lighting, or even choice of music)?  What" bang for our buck" do we get from this jigsaw narration?  Is equal to or greater than the sum of its parts?

Rosebud

Rosebud is perhaps the most famous symbol in movie history. What is the significance of the name "rosebud?" What is the significance of the sled? Is it the key to understanding Kane's life or just one missing piece of a jigsaw puzzle that does not explain much at all? A meaningful symbol or a MacGuffin? Are there other symbols in the film that are more meaningful or complement you reading of the sled (such as statues, jigsaw puzzles, Xanadu, etc)?

Jay Gatsby v. Charles FosterKane

Most of us read The Great Gatsby in one of our English classes. Both Gatsby and Citizen Kane, produced about twenty years apart, focus on a man who some might say is the epitome of success. What similarities and differences do you see? Are these works celebrations or critiques of these men, or somewhere in between? Or something else?

Celluloid Newspapers

We have seen two films, His Girl Friday and Citizen Kane, in which the protagonists work in the newspapers business (Walter Burns is an editor, Hildy Johnson a reporter, Charles Foster Kane a publisher). What do these films tell us about the job of a reporter or publisher in the 1940's? What is the role or status of the newspaper at that time? How have things changed since that time?