Following the death of thirty-two members of an SS battalion in a bomb attack carried out by Italian partisans in Rome's Via Rasella on 23rd March 1944, an incandescent Hitler ordered that ten Italians be executed for every soldier killed and that this be carried out within twenty-four hours. The officer assigned this gruesome task was Lt. Colonel Herbert Kappler who carried out the order with ruthless efficiency.
The style of this film by Filippo Walter Ratti, a director hitherto unfamiliar to me, is very much influenced by 'Rome, open City' but of course the stunning immediacy of the earlier film cannot be replicated. It remains however a gripping, visceral piece which concentrates mainly on the final hours of the hostages. They are played by actors who are probably unfamiliar to the average non-European viewer, notably Andrea Checchi, Sergio Fantoni and Ivo Garrani. As a baron who tries unsuccessfully to obtain a release for his son, Gino Cervi brings his customary solid presence. Kappler is chillingly played by Carlo d'Angelo. He is not the only actor to play the role as he has since been portrayed by Richard Burton in 'Massacre in Rome' and on the small screen by Christopher Plummer in 'The Scarlet and the Black'.
There is a connection between this and Rossellini's film in that one of those executed was the priest Don Pietro Pappagallo who became the inspiration for Don Pietro Pellegrini, so memorably played by Aldo Fabrizi. Most viewers will probably recognise in Mariella's desperate run behind the truck carrying her doomed lover an echo of Anna Magnani's iconic dash in the earlier film.
The stark cinematography of Aldo Greci and the ominous score by Armando Trovaioli add immeasurably to the film's power.
Particularly moving is the scene where Assunta reads letters from both her husband and teenage son telling her that they are soon to die.
It was political theorist Hannah Arendt in 1961 who first coined the controversial phrase 'the banality of evil' and no doubt Kappler claimed that he was only following orders. This is a highly emotive topic and films such as this serve as a distressing reminder of the depravity to which humans can sink.
The style of this film by Filippo Walter Ratti, a director hitherto unfamiliar to me, is very much influenced by 'Rome, open City' but of course the stunning immediacy of the earlier film cannot be replicated. It remains however a gripping, visceral piece which concentrates mainly on the final hours of the hostages. They are played by actors who are probably unfamiliar to the average non-European viewer, notably Andrea Checchi, Sergio Fantoni and Ivo Garrani. As a baron who tries unsuccessfully to obtain a release for his son, Gino Cervi brings his customary solid presence. Kappler is chillingly played by Carlo d'Angelo. He is not the only actor to play the role as he has since been portrayed by Richard Burton in 'Massacre in Rome' and on the small screen by Christopher Plummer in 'The Scarlet and the Black'.
There is a connection between this and Rossellini's film in that one of those executed was the priest Don Pietro Pappagallo who became the inspiration for Don Pietro Pellegrini, so memorably played by Aldo Fabrizi. Most viewers will probably recognise in Mariella's desperate run behind the truck carrying her doomed lover an echo of Anna Magnani's iconic dash in the earlier film.
The stark cinematography of Aldo Greci and the ominous score by Armando Trovaioli add immeasurably to the film's power.
Particularly moving is the scene where Assunta reads letters from both her husband and teenage son telling her that they are soon to die.
It was political theorist Hannah Arendt in 1961 who first coined the controversial phrase 'the banality of evil' and no doubt Kappler claimed that he was only following orders. This is a highly emotive topic and films such as this serve as a distressing reminder of the depravity to which humans can sink.
