The films Open City and Winter Light display the intricacies of loyalty within personal and group relationships, both human and non-human. Open City tends to view loyalty as an honorable trait, while Winter Light takes a bleaker view, questioning loyalty’s very ability to exist. Not surprisingly, both films represent the prevailing attitudes of the times in which they were created.
Open City, released in 1945, offers a view of Rome while it is being occupied by Germany at the end of World War II. The film centers around a group of characters determined to resist German rule. The existence of this common cause allows the characters to form an intense loyalty to their group, and in turn fosters an unflinching sense of loyalty among them individually. At the end of the movie, in perhaps its most memorable scene, Manfredi and Don Pietro show a willingness to die for the group and each …show more content…
The film revolves around Tomas, the pastor of a very small congregation, as he struggles with his faith in God. Despite his responsibility to lead the members off his church, Tomas’ inability to put to rest his own doubts makes it very difficult. The center of Tomas’ doubts about religion stem from his feeling that God has abandoned him. This feeling of betrayal puts in jeopardy any loyalty that Tomas may have felt towards God. Tomas is left in despair, holding on to his dead wife, the only person he seems to feel loyalty toward. In doing this, he rejects the advances of Marta, his former mistress who displays a loyalty for him in her own way. Marta is not rewarded for her devotion, however, and almost seems punished when Tomas takes out his own frustration and despair on her. In the end, Tomas is not left with much to hold on to, and must have a similar feeling to Jesus in Matthew 27:46 when he exclaims, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
Open City, released in 1945, offers a view of Rome while it is being occupied by Germany at the end of World War II. The film centers around a group of characters determined to resist German rule. The existence of this common cause allows the characters to form an intense loyalty to their group, and in turn fosters an unflinching sense of loyalty among them individually. At the end of the movie, in perhaps its most memorable scene, Manfredi and Don Pietro show a willingness to die for the group and each …show more content…
The film revolves around Tomas, the pastor of a very small congregation, as he struggles with his faith in God. Despite his responsibility to lead the members off his church, Tomas’ inability to put to rest his own doubts makes it very difficult. The center of Tomas’ doubts about religion stem from his feeling that God has abandoned him. This feeling of betrayal puts in jeopardy any loyalty that Tomas may have felt towards God. Tomas is left in despair, holding on to his dead wife, the only person he seems to feel loyalty toward. In doing this, he rejects the advances of Marta, his former mistress who displays a loyalty for him in her own way. Marta is not rewarded for her devotion, however, and almost seems punished when Tomas takes out his own frustration and despair on her. In the end, Tomas is not left with much to hold on to, and must have a similar feeling to Jesus in Matthew 27:46 when he exclaims, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken