Vignette films by definition are usually unsatisfying to me. "Paisan" doesn't completely buck that trend, but as these kinds of films go, it's one of the better ones I've seen. What makes it fascinating is that it was filmed on actual locations shortly after the war, so there's an authentic immediacy to it that is lacking from studio productions that try to recreate WWII on sets. This film is also a reminder that no matter how tough it was for America to weather the war, it was nothing compared to what people in Europe had to contend with.
All of the episodes are quite touching, and the last one is disturbing as well. After five plaintive, poetic stories, the last one is jarringly brutal and ends the film on a weirdly abrupt note.
I still prefer a film that tells one cohesive story, but this one is worth a watch both as an example of the type of international cinema being produced during the war and as a time capsule of what the war was like for people living with it in their backyards.
No fewer than five writers, Federico Fellini and Robert Rossellini among them, shared a Best Story and Screenplay nomination at the 1949 Academy Awards for their work on "Paisan."
Grade: A.
All of the episodes are quite touching, and the last one is disturbing as well. After five plaintive, poetic stories, the last one is jarringly brutal and ends the film on a weirdly abrupt note.
I still prefer a film that tells one cohesive story, but this one is worth a watch both as an example of the type of international cinema being produced during the war and as a time capsule of what the war was like for people living with it in their backyards.
No fewer than five writers, Federico Fellini and Robert Rossellini among them, shared a Best Story and Screenplay nomination at the 1949 Academy Awards for their work on "Paisan."
Grade: A.