A film without fascism: why the fascists were whitewashed out of Paisan

Watched some of the supplementary material on the Criterion disc of Rossellini's "Paisan" (thanks, Criterion/Janus - your discs remain unsurpassed!) - and got some new appreciation for and understanding of this groundbreaking but uneven movie. Interesting to hear in one of the Rossellini interviews that he says he hates (I think that was his word) the earlier Rome, Open City and loves Paisan. Why would this be? They are both part of his so-called War Trilogy, from the postwar Italian cinema, they both ushered in the Italian neo-realism (a term he also "hates," - why not just realism, he asked). But seeing a few clips from each I could see that Rome, though much more tight and tense as a narrative, and much better acted, is a traditional story with all the elements of Italian melodrama - it's almost operatic (Maganini shot dead in the street - a clip shown thousands of times). Paisan is by contrast much more experimental and unusual - an attempt to create a portrait of a nation in time through 6 unconnected vignettes. The pacing is therefore more erratic and uneven, but perhaps grander in the end - Canterbury Tales compared with Troilus & Cressida, as an analogy. Rome is obviously more appealing, but Paisan may have opened more artistic possibilities. One of the commentaries took on the issue rarely discussed: what about the Italian fascists? They are largely washed out of both films as we seem to see the partisans v the Germans as if Italian fascism played no role at all in the country's devastation and shame. Apparently the government at the time was focused on reconciliation and would approve no film that took on the fascists for what they were. The much later Night of the Shooting Stars, though not as good a movie, was more honest on this score.