This is the first full-length study in any language of the most
significant film director of Italian Neorealism. Peter Brunette combines
close analyses of Roberto Rossellini's formal and narrative style with a
thorough account of his position in the political and cultural landscape
of postwar Italy. More than forty films are explored, including Open
City, Paisan, Voyage to Italy, The Rise to Power of Louis XIV, and films
made in the director's later years that documented crucial epochs in
human history. Brunette's book is based on eight years of research,
during which he interviewed members of the director's family as well as
Rossellini himself. Brunette also draws on an enormous body of European
and American criticism and discusses the various intellectual debates
spawned by the director's work. This landmark study is both a
comprehensive introduction to one of the most influential practitioners
of the contemporary cinema and a boldly original discussion of Italian
Neorealism. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program,
which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out
and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and
impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes
high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using
print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1996.
