41 Roberto Rossellini Movies, Ranked Best to Worst

This war drama film takes us to the Nazi occupation of Rome in 1944 during the Second World War. Giorgio Manfredi, a Resistance Leader, is tracked down and chased by the Nazis. He seeks refuge with Francesco, one of his friends. Francesco’s fiancée, Pina tries to inform a priest that Giorgio needs to leave the town without being detected.

Edmund is a 12 year old boy living in Germany post the Second World War. Since the country was devastated by the war, he is going through a difficult time along with his five other family members living in a battered apartment. Meanwhile, his brother who is a former Nazi is trying to hide from the police. And since their father is too ill to help them, it is up to Edmund now to provide for his family, and therefore he is forced to deal with the black market.

Set during the time of the Second World War, this film revolves around the American military personnel in Italy, who try to interact with the locals, despite their language barrier, as German forces start making their retreat.

A hybrid of documentary film and fiction, the work depicts the different facet of India. Made with nonprofessional actors, it starts with today’s Mumbai, before it moves to the rural areas and finally to the foothills of the Himalayas. In course of it, we meet Devi, a Hindu refugee from East Bengal, who becomes the narrator of the film. 

This romantic drama film tells the story of Katherine and Alex Joyce, who have been married for eight years without any children. After Alex inherits a villa from his uncle, he travels to Naples in order to sell it, along with Katherine. During their drive, they realize that this is the first time in a long while, that they have been spending time together.

Karin, a young woman living in an Italian refugee camp in 1948, decides to get married to a fisherman named Antonio, in order to leave her camp and live a better life. However, she is unable to adjust to her life in Antonio’s village, due to its terrible living conditions. The village is also threatened by a volcano. Many of the people have left for the US, and most of the remaining ones see her as an exotic foreigner and a woman without morals. When Antonio shows her his abusive nature, she decides to escape and seek freedom as well as a better future.

Escape by Night is a 1960 Italian war film which revolves around three allied prisoners, a Russian, an American, and an Englishman, who attempt to make an escape, with the help of a young couple from Rome. 

Dov'è la libertà is a Italian comedy drama film, which tells the story of a former barber, who has spent 20 years in prison for murder. However, after being released, he is unable to adjust to the changed world, and decides to return to the prison. 

Directed by five different directors, this film revolves around the personal and professional lives of five different actresses, who are seen as common women rather than movie stars.  

This Italian French film revolves around the life of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, who is also commonly known as the ‘Messiah’.

In order to maintain a ‘Perfect marriage’ façade, Irene Wagner doesn’t divulge her extra-marital affair with Erich Baumann to her well-known scientist-professor husband Albert Wagner. Baumann’s ex-girlfriend Johann learns about the affair and starts blackmailing Irene, proving her worst trepidations true. When she learns that the plan was designed as an experiment in ‘fear,’ it results in a dangerous and violent fury. 

A village photographer meets a stranger who claims to be Saint Andrea, and turns the photographer’s camera into a device with a power to kill the Earth’s evil-doers. Gaining a power over people, the photographer loses his judgment to differentiate between good and bad, and indiscriminately eliminates people. Finally, he turns his camera on the stranger, who is exposed as the Devil.

The Seven Deadly Sins is a drama film which is a compilation of seven different stories revolving around the seven deadly sins, which include pride, wrath, sloth, envy, gluttony, greed and lust.  

Based on a 19th century short story of the same name, this romantic drama film tells the story of a bored and spoiled Roman countess, who falls in love with a young revolutionary.

Desire is an Italian drama film which revolves around the story of Paola, a call girl in Milan, who returns home to her village and attempts to live a regular life. However, her father rejects her, and her former lover starts to blackmail her. She decides to her turn to her sister for support, although she is lusted after by her brother-in-law.

Based on a stage play of the same name, Anima nera is an Italian drama film which tells the story of a man who gets married, hoping to start a new life. However, due to an unexpected inheritance, his relationship with his wife deteriorates.

This historical drama film tells the story of Giuseppe Garibaldi, who is known as a national hero in Italy, who had led a military campaign in 1860 known as Expedition of the Thousand.  

This short film is about two fish in love, who are threatened by an octopus.

Year One is a biographical film which revolves around Alcide De Gasperi, a Christian Democrat leader and his struggle to lead Italy, in the years, after the end of the Second World War.

This biographical musical drama film tells the story of Joan of Arc, who finds herself in a dream state, after being executed. She departs from her physical body, and looks back upon her life.  A priest appears as well, and guides her. He makes her feel proud of what she had done for the people.

A young Italian sailor falls for a schoolteacher, but soon he has to return to his service on a warship. However, during a battle against the Royal Navy, he is injured and is transferred to a medical ship. Things get interesting when he finds himself reunited with his lover, who is now working as a nurse.

An Italian pilot’s flight is shot down during the Italian invasion of Greece during the World War II. The British forces capture and put him in a prisoner-of-war camp. There he meets and falls for a young Italian woman, who had volunteered to take care of the prisoners. He soon works on an escape plan to get back to his country.   

This anthology drama film tells several short stories, including the story of a noblewoman falling for a common musician, Antonio, a father who is sent to fight in the First World War although he was expecting his child, and an airman who falls in love with a woman at an air-raid shelter.

The Man With the Cross is a war film which takes us to 1942, Ukraine, during the time of the Second World War. Italian troops are combating against Soviet forces. Meanwhile, a military chaplain volunteers to stay behind to take care of a badly wounded Italian solider, by risking himself to capture at the hands of the enemy.