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Germania anno zero (1948)

Rate: 4
Viewed: 8/25

8/25: Germania anno zero (Germany Year Zero) is the final film of Roberto Rossellini's War Trilogy.

It's better than Roma città aperta and Paisà for several reasons. There are no episodes which means the narrative stays consistent from start to finish. It's also short: 73 minutes. Thank goodness. The writing is better, and the performances are tolerable given the cast of nonprofessional thespians. This is actually the least neorealist of them all with the usage of rear screen projection.

As a result, I was able to get into the story during the first half. However, it fell apart afterwards because I started thinking about the Holocaust victims and asked myself, "Why should I care about these struggling Germans? They were the ones that started WWII. So...fuck them!" Talk about misplaced sympathy when it comes to the blond-haired boy who decided to kill his father and then himself at the end. Getting to be mucho melodramatic, huh Mr. Rossellini?

In the meantime, this oddity must be addressed. The film was made by an Italian company with an all-German cast that took place in war-torn Berlin. They spoke their own language yet were dubbed in Italian. And I'm experiencing this whole thing in English subtitles? Worse is the sight of two men putting their hands all over the blond-haired boy as if it's pedophile galore. However, this is where Roberto Rossellini should've delved into more if that was actually happening at the time.

All in all, Germania anno zero gives me a strong impression that Roberto Rossellini made a lot of progress in filmmaking.

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