The Rossellini film in question is about much more than just world war 2 specifically, it's about all conflict and the aftermath of that, be it in a small psychological level or a huge world war level. It's about human nature and it's ability to adapt. It's not plain and american, so you kind of have to read it a bit deeper. I realise that most american war films are very one dimensional and i'm sure your over-indulging of war films is because of the american ones, but i'd definitely recommend re-watching Paisa if you can.