GERMANY YEAR ZERO (+ L'AMORE) - DVD

GERMANY YEAR ZERO (DVD)
A film by Roberto Rossellini

The concluding part of Roberto Rossellini's celebrated War Trilogy, Germany Year Zero, is presented here in a new restoration.

Amidst the war-torn ruins of Berlin in the period immediately after the Second World War a twelve-year old boy, Edmund, struggles to support his family his ailing father and un-registered brother unable to provide for them. Left to his own devices, Edmund wanders around the devastated city, getting caught up in black market schemes and falling prey to the pernicious influence of a Nazi-sympathising former teacher with tragic consequences.

This heart-rending portrait of a decimated post-war European city is a damning indictment of war and fascism and remains one of the most effecting films in the history of cinema.

Special features

• Newly remastered presentation
• L'Amore (Roberto Rossellini, 1948, 70 mins): Rossellini's controversial two-part anthology film showcasing the manifold talents of Anna Magnani. The first part, A Human Voice is written by Jean Cocteau, and the second, The Miracle is written by Federico Fellini, who also puts in an acting turn
• Illustrated booklet featuring essays and credits

Germany, Italy | 1948 | black and white | German language, with optional English subtitles | 71 minutes | Original aspect ratio 1.33:1 | DVD9 | PAL | Cert PG | Region 2 DVD

Review

The colossal rubble of Berlin is not just an analogue to the collapse of the social order but an amazing sight, and the movie makes you feel the weight of every smashed façade and fallen stone. --David Denby, New Yorker

An uncomfortable, powerful film. --Kim Newman, Empire

The documentary footage of a decimated Berlin is still enormously powerful, especially when compared to the coverage of that other vanquished, but unscathed, capital in Rome, Open City. --Radiotimes.com