Edmund Moeschke gives an outstanding performance in this realistic portrayal of a family’s difficult existence in Berlin following World War II. The film depicts their efforts to survive, constantly searching and saving what they can to provide for the father who is not well and the rest of the household. The actors are carefully chosen, and the scenes—shot only three years after Allied forces devastated much of the …

It's truly disheartening to consider the predicament those who came after the Nazis found themselves in when World War II ended. Rossellini captures this with a detached, observational style that feels like a documentary, and I suspect it took someone from a defeated Axis nation, like him, to so keenly and deeply convey the sense of regret and remorse felt by these 'living' individuals. The film is profoundly sad to …