AllMovie

In March of 1944 the Thied-Reich's stronghold over Europe was weakening, and the swelling resistance in Nazi-occupied Rome would spark one of the most devastating wartime atrocities in modern history. When thirty-three members of the SS military police were ambushed and gunned down by the Roman underground, an enraged German High Command ordered the death of ten Roman civilians for each of the thirty-three SS soldiers killed. A decree issued directly from the Pope states that Roman priest Pietro Antonelli (Marcello Mastroianni) must collaborate with Nazi Lieutenant Colonel Herbert Kappler (Richard Burton) in gathering 330 Roman citizens for systematic execution. Torn by his faith and devoted to pacifism, Father Antonelli must choose between defying direct orders from the highest seat in the Catholic church, or remaining true to his vows and standing by as 330 innocents are gunned down on the orders of history's most notorious dictator.