Social Effects Of The Italian Neorealism

In Jean-Louis Comolli and Jean Narboni’s essay “Cinema/Ideology/Criticism,” they put forward the central argument that film is a commercial product in the capitalist system and therefore also the unconscious instrument of the dominant ideology which produces it. In opposition to the classic film theory that applauds camera as an impartial device to reproduce reality, they argue that what the camera reproduces is merely a refraction of the prevailing ideology. Therefore, the primary and political task for filmmakers is to disrupt this replication of the world as self-evident and the function of film criticism is to identify and evaluate that politics. Comolli and Narboni then suggest seven categories of films confronting ideology in different ways, among which the second category resists the prevailing ideology on two levels. Films of this group not only overtly deal with political contents in order to “attack their ideological assimilation” (Comolli and Narboni 483), but also achieve their goal through breaking down the conventional way of depicting reality.

Film and realism are connected to one another; it gives the audience an opportunity to interpret the film in their own perspective, in relation to the real world. As someone with a firm opposition to editing and montage, Bazin stated that the mise en scène truly represents “true continuity” in film, reproducing the real world more realistically. (Cardullo, 7) There are two editing systems: Classical Hollywood Cinema and Neorealist Cinema. From their similarities and differences, it can be said that Neorealist Cinema portrays the real world more realistically and effectively than CHC… In order to produce Bazin’s “true continuity” and reproduce situations more realistically, the filmmaker must choose an effective editing system, refrain from interrupting the flow of images, and use minimal editing, proven through the two films Bicycle Thieves (Neorealist Cinema) and Stagecoach (CHC).

Italian Neorealism was a movement of art, which strived to illustrate the normal lives of the ordinary, working class people in post war Rome, usually with the use of non-professional actors. As one of the best Italian Neorealist film, Bicycle Thieves showed an absolute depiction of the war’s impact on daily life and exposed a world in which sufferings, unkindness and corruption jeopardized the rationality of human beings and action of men (Schoonover). By utilizing a depressing and gloomy cinematography, De Sica implies the somber lives of the poor and their crisis in losing their self-identity and moral conscience as a result of parochial society that make a fetish of personal belongings as a mode of social acceptance. By examining the cinematography, ‘mise-en-scene’ and events in the film, the daily struggles of the working class in post war Rome can be seen through the crisis of masculinity, class struggle, ethical dilemma and a profoundly patriarchal society.

It had been a hot, midsummer day when Jacques Kubrick bestowed a camera upon his son, Stanley. It had been an old, Graflex camera, and from that day forward, young Stanley could be seen lugging around his father’s gift everywhere he went. He spent much of his time snapping still photos and creating home movies depicting the Bronx, his hometown, in all its glory (Uhlich). No one could have predicted that this gift was one that would affect the world. That day - July 26th, 1941 - had been renowned American filmmaker, director, and screenwriter Stanley Kubrick’s thirteenth birthday, and it had been a ripple in time, the simple start of a visionary whose future work would one day be celebrated on various platforms by more than one generation. As

	Another fine example of neorealism is The Bicycle Thief (1948), written by Cesare Zavattini and directed by Vittorio De Sica. The narrative of this film unfolds in post-W.W.II times. The film is a portrait of the post-war Italian disadvantaged class (the majority) in their search for self-respect. It is a time of struggle for the Italian people, amplified by a shortage of employment and lack of social services. In the first scenes of the film, these conditions are evident as Antonio Ricci (Lamberto Maggiorami) meets his spouse Maria (Lianalla Carell) on his way back home. We see the "men" arguing at the employment "office" as the "women" argue about the shortage of water. Although the director's

Italian neorealism (1945-1953), through directors like Roberto Rossellini and Vittorio De Sica, made its trademark on cinematic history not only in Italy, but also throughout the world. It was films such as Rome Open City (Roma città aperta, 1945), The Bicycle Thief (Ladri di biciclette, 1948), and Umberto D., (1952) whose style of depicting the harsh economic and social realities of the poor and working class of Italy took off as a new cinematic style after World War II. Neorealism is a response to desperate economic situations and often illustrates suffering, poverty, injustice, and/or discrimination. Many argue that neorealism is a way of seeing reality without prejudice due to the documentary-like technique of the film and its ability

Born in Paris in the middle of World War I, Jean-Pierre Grumbach knew he wanted to be a filmmaker at a very early age. After receiving a “Pathé Baby ” camera at the age of seven, he went on to create the equivalent of thirty short movies in various formats for friends and family by the time he turned twenty. His burgeoning career and dreams of being a film director were interrupted by Nazi Germany and the Second World War, but instead of evacuating to the United Kingdom he stayed in his homeland and fought, wisely changing his last name to Melville after his favorite author. Now a veteran of the Resistance in Nazi-occupied France, Jean-Pierre Melville later used his love of filmmaking and American gangster movies, accompanied by his disdain for the domineering French cinema establishment, to invent an entire genre of films and inspire an army of young directors to ignore conventional methods and embrace their own creations in their own unique ways.

Italian Neorealism was at its peak after the downfall of the Mussolini’s regime. However, under the fascist leader, there was an element of artistic pluralism permitted , particularly because Mussolini understood the pivotal role of cinema within society, especially if it could influence societal thoughts. Subsequently, Mussolini himself founded important film institutions such as the Venice Film Festival, Cinecitta and the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia – a highly respected film school. Vittorio Mussolini also played a role in Italian cinema, and he imposed that politics should not be a subject within the films. This resulted in what critics call a series of ‘telefoni bianchi’. The characteristics which make up this type of ‘white

To fully comprehend why and how this cinematic motion took place, it is valuable here to establish the wider social climate of France at the time, and the active forces which heavily shaped New Wave cinema. Between the years of 1945 and 1975, France would undergo “thirty glorious years” of economic growth, urbanization, and a considerable baby boom, all of which came to expand and radically alter the parameters of French culture (Haine 33). Beneath the surface affluence however, France was in a state of deep self-evaluation and consciousness. Following WW11, the

The nineteenth century was all about visuals such as painted sets and props. In 1915, technical directors were soon needed for all visual designs. Later in the 1920s, in Hollywood, Europe, and Japan shooting of movies were starting to take place in studios. In the 1930’s-1960’s, soundstage was introduced and studios were being upgraded. Art directors and production designers was brought into filmmaking. A production designer is the person that comes up with all the ideas of different artistic visions for the film. In 1937, cinema city was created by Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. In the 1940s-1970s, photographic realism came into light. Filmmaking began to take places in exterior spaces and actual locations. Directors began traveling to find the right mise-en-scéne for

Before Fascist Italy and World War II, the concept of Neorealism was not yet developed, because Italy had never suffered a huge change to its normalcy status, until Benito Mussolini rose to power and adjusted Italy to his convenience. Henceforth, in the nineteenth century, Italy´s cinema main subject of matter was realism due to the fact that this movement of film and literature did not approve one´s own expressions or did not appreciate the beauty of the art. At the same time, the French developed a new theme called Naturalism, which invoked realism to its ultimate level. On the other hand, Neorealism was founded after the fall of Fascism. Italy´s cinema took a huge advantage of this era and developed movies based on the true events that left Italy after Fascism.

During World War II many films in Italy the Italian community created a new type of genre for that specific decade called Italian Neorealism.The Neorealism genre was a style of film characterized by stories done by the poor and working class. These movies were typically filmed on location meaning not in a studio but rather at a real place and used nonprofessional actors. The films themselves contended with the difficulty of life post World War II. The early films were about social issues and war. Director Roberto Rossellini's created a movie during the Neorealist time called Rome Open City which was released in 1945. The movie shows a deeply moving portrait of Rome during the last couple years of the war, with Germany occupying the city and Allied forces slowly closing in. The film was made on whatever film stock Rossellini could gather up in the post war Italian economy. It was shot in the streets of Rome with a kind of documentary realism that would show an even greater impact to this story.

When Ida and Urbano Fellini bore their first son, Federico, they must have known that he would be far from a calm easygoing person. On the evening of January 20, 1940, the weather at the seaside resort of Rimini on the Adriatic coast of Italy, was not pleasant. There was thunder, lightning, high seas, winds, and heavy rains; quite a setting for the entrance of one who was to be regarded as one of the greatest film directors in history.

Neorealism in film embraced a documentary-like objectivity; actors were often amatuers, and the action centred on commonplace situations. Often crudely and hastily made, Neorealist productions stood in stark contrast to traditional escapist feature films.

In this essay I will look at the emergence of Italian neo-realist cinema and how Italian Neo-realism has been defined and classified in the film industry as well as how its distinct cinematic characteristics could only have been conceived in Italy and how these characteristics set the neo-realist style apart from other realist movements and from Hollywood.