Massacre in Rome
| Massacre in Rome | |
|---|---|
UK DVD Cover
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| Directed by | George P. Cosmatos |
| Produced by | Carlo Ponti |
| Written by |
Robert Katz (book) George P. Cosmatos |
| Starring |
Richard Burton Marcello Mastroianni |
| Music by | Ennio Morricone |
| Cinematography | Marcello Gatti |
| Edited by | Françoise Bonnot |
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Release date
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4 October 1973 |
|
Running time
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110 minutes |
| Country | Italy |
| Language | English |
Massacre in Rome (Italian: Rappresaglia) is a 1973 film directed by George Pan Cosmatos about the Ardeatine massacre which occurred at the Ardeatine caves in Rome, 24 March 1944, committed by the Germans as a reprisal for a partisan attack against the SS Police Regiment Bozen.
The film stars Richard Burton as the Rome Gestapo chief Herbert Kappler, who carries out the killings of 335 mostly randomly and hurriedly selected victims in revenge for partisans killing 33 Germans: using a ratio of ten Italian victims for every German. However, they had rounded up five more than expected but continued on with their plan. Meanwhile, the Vatican stands by and issues no condemnation. A Tagline summarized the complete story: "Hitler ordered it. The Vatican wouldn't stop it. The world would never forgive it".
The film is based on the book Death in Rome (1973) by Robert Katz, who did the screenplay with Cosmatos. It would also feature the names of the dead victims in the closing credits, as opposed to showing the credits of stars and movie crew members who made the film.
Herbert Kappler is depicted in the film as being a tired worn out man, who is disillusioned with the Nazi cause and believes that the fall of Nazi Germany is imminent. In reality, Kappler was a zealous Nazi and was sent to Rome for exactly this reason. During his time as head of the Sicherheitspolizei (Security Police) in Rome, Kappler organized the round-ups of thousands of innocent victims, oversaw raids on Jewish homes for looted valuables, and was a key figure in transporting Italian Jews to Nazi death camps.
Father Pietro Antonelli is a combination of several different Vatican officials who personally knew Kappler, the most significant of whom was Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty (who appears in the film The Scarlet and the Black). One prisoner, a deserter from the Austrian army who had pretended to be an Italian, was allowed to live, as a citizen of the Reich; and he was the only witness to tell the tale of the courageous behavior of the Resistance priest, Don Pietro Pappagallo, who blessed those about to be killed, before he himself met his fate.
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Wikipedia