La ricezione dei film di Roberto Rossellini nei periodici cinematografici polacchi dal 1946 al 1956

In this article I focus on examining the reception of Roberto Rossellini’s films
in Polish film journals (period: 1946-1956) and cultural magazines. The analysis shows
that while Rossellini’s first post-war film – Roma città aperta – was positively received in
the People’s Republic of Poland until 1949, from the early 1950s onwards – i.e. during
the Stalinist period – there was a rather critical turn, as Soviet cinema and the poetics of
socialist realism came to the fore. From this moment on, Italian neo-realism was accused
of pessimism and of having lost its “great revolutionary prospects”. This critical attitude
changed during the so-called thaw period, when neorealism became a kind of reference
model. However, because of their explicit religious themes, some neo-realist films were
not allowed by the censorship in the Polish film circuit; as a consequence, some Rossellini’s
films were never screened in cinemas in the People’s Republic of Poland.