Paisà

Paisan is a 1946 Italian neorealist war drama film directed by Roberto Rossellini. In six independent episodes, it tells of the Liberation of Italy by the Allied forces during the late stage of World War II. The film premiered at the Venice International Film Festival and received numerous national and international prizes. In 2008, the film was included in the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage’s 100 Italian films to be saved, a list of 100 films that "have changed the collective memory of the country between 1942 and 1978." Plot 1st Episode During the Allied invasion of Sicily, an American patrol makes its way to a village at night. Only one of the Americans speaks Italian. Local girl Carmela, who wants to find the whereabouts of her brother and father, agrees to guide the patrol past a German minefield to the seaside. While one of the patrol, Joe, is assigned to keep an eye on Carmela in a castle ruin, the others inspect the area. Despite the language barrier, Joe starts to overcome Carmela's distance. When he is shot by a German sniper, Carmela hides him in the basement of the building. Upon the discovery that Joe has died, she takes his rifle and starts shooting at the enemy. When the Americans return, they find Joe's body and assume Carmela killed him. The last scene shows the dead Carmela lying at the bottom of the cliffs, having been shot by the German patrol.