World War II · Film · 1946
Paisan
Paisà
Six episodes follow the Allied advance up Italy, from Sicily to the Po delta, through brief encounters between American soldiers and Italians who often cannot understand each other's language.
Where it happened
Follow the story across 5 places.
Stop 1: South coast of Sicily
On the night of the landings, a village girl guides an American patrol past a minefield and is left alone with a young GI.
Stop 2: Naples
A street orphan steals the boots of a drunk Black military policeman, who follows him home to the city's caves.
Stop 3: Rome
A GI who fell for a girl on liberation day meets her again months later without recognising what the city has made of her.
Stop 4: Florence, Ponte Vecchio
Key location
An American nurse and a partisan cross the Arno through the Vasari Corridor into the half of the city where fighting still rages.
Stop 5: Po delta, near Porto Tolle
OSS men and partisans rescue downed airmen in the marshes, but German patrols close in on the families who shelter them.
What really happened
The Allied campaign in Italy began with the landings in Sicily on 10 July 1943 and ground north for almost two years. Naples was liberated on 1 October 1943 after a four-day popular uprising, Rome on 4 June 1944, and Florence in August 1944, when the Germans blew up every bridge over the Arno except the Ponte Vecchio and partisans fought in the northern districts.
By winter 1944 the front had stalled on the Gothic Line, and in the marshes of the Po delta partisans and Allied liaison officers kept fighting behind German lines; reprisals against civilians who helped them were common. Rossellini filmed on location with mostly non-professional actors, and the German surrender in Italy came on 2 May 1945.
Where to watch
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Full details
- Original title
- Paisà
- Directed by
- Roberto Rossellini
- Countries
- Italy
- Languages
- Italian, English, German
- Released
- 1946
- Period
- –
- Theaters of war
- Mediterranean & Africa
- Themes
- Combat
- Resistance
