Italian NeoRealism

1
Italian Neo-Realism

• 1940s

2
History

• 1943 Nazi forces occupied Rome and the Allies
  had stalled in the south, amidst chaos.
• Fascists relaxed their stranglehold over the film
  studios and turned out a series of gritty films
  of the street, showing the harsh realities and
  urban problems of life.
• Met with mixed reaction not hugely popular with
  audiences in Italy but were extremely successful
  in International markets (US especially).
  Italian critics dismissed.

3
Form

• Aim for the real a slice of real life.
• Often feel like a newsreel / documentary grainy
  and under lit. Low quality film stock helped
  achieve this look.
• Narrative story tradition is discarded
• Use of real people rather than actors
• Preference for location shooting rather than in
  studios
• Filmed silently with voices dubbed in post
  editing. Use of natural dialects.

Roma citta aperta
4
Themes

• Dealt with
• Social and political issues affecting everyday
  life in occupied, post-war Italy
• Poverty and unemployment were rampant at this
  time.

La terra trema
Sciuscia
5
Films and Directors

• Ladri di biciclette - Bicycle Thieves, 1948 Dir
  De Sica (the only real film to meet all the form
  requirements of this movement)
• La terra trema The Terror of the Sea, 1948
  Dir Visconti
• Ossessione Obsession, 1943 Dir Visconti
• Roma citta aperta Rome, Open City, 1945 Dir
  Rossellini
• Sciuscia Shoeshine, 1946 Dir De Sica

6
Bicycle Thieves

• Most important film of the post-war era.
• Deals with a family man whos been out of work
  for 2 years (high unemployment in post war
  Italy).
• Finds work as a bill poster but must provide his
  own transportation for the job.
• Pawns his families belongings to buy a bike which
  is then stolen on the first day.
• He and his son spend the rest of the film
  tracking it down.
• Finally he is forced to steal a bike himself but
  gets caught doing so.

7
Bicycle Thieves cont.

• Critical commentary
• A poignant story of a father/son relationship
• Modern-day parable of an alienated man in a
  hostile, dehumanised environment
• Powerful social document committed to the reality
  it portrays.

8
Decline

• Very short lived movement.
• Because of basis (poverty etc) as social
  circumstance changed (economy improved) the
  movement simply lost process and content.
• Late 40s US films flooded Italian market 1949
  10 films were Italian and 71 American.
• Government appointment of Guilio Andreotti as
  Director of Performing Arts in early 1950s
  denied any films that gave a bad image of
  Italy. Withheld funds from films considered too
  neo-realist in motivation.