Part 2, and surely the greatest, of Wajda's trilogy describes the last days of the failed 1944 Warsaw uprising against the Nazis. The imagery of the sewers, to which the Polish fighters retreat, is superbly used to represent both their desperation and their new Soviet prison. Made in 1956 despite Stalinist censorship. find out more...

A haunting and highly emotive film about the tough lives of Sicilian villagers, in a small fishing community, in the face of exploitative businessmen. The images of isolation and frustration capture the villagers' plight. Beautifully shot, Visconti's realist vision encapsulates the whole film. Produced by the Italian Communist Party. find out more...

Vittorio De Sica's award-winning masterpiece, Miracle in Milan, is one of the watershed films of the Italian cinema renaissance. find out more...

Rossellini's masterpiece of neo-realist cinema. Based on the life of a priest who serves in the Resistance movement, it's triumph is to show the Resistance against a backdrop of everyday wartime life in Rome. The realism is enhanced by the camerawork and locations. A truly remarkable film. find out more...

Retired civil servant Umberto struggles to survive on his rapidly dwindling pension in the harsh environment of post-World War II Rome, a city plagued by its society's total disregard for the plight of the elderly, the poor and the downtrodden. His only companions are his loyal dog, Flag, and a pregnant housemaid named Maria. Facing eviction from his humble home by his tyrannical landlady Umberto's desperate failed attempts to raise money lead him to contemplate suicide, but first he must find a find out more...