What it is…
A film movement that took shape in Italy immediately following the Second World War and the fall of Benito Mussolini and lasted until the early 1950s. As the name suggests, Neorealist films broke with the middle-class realist dramas of the past and dealt with the new, immediate realities of post-war Italy. These films were generally left-leaning in their politics.
Who its pioneers were...
Although, to an extent, one can trace the influence of Poetic Realism and war-time documentaries, the Neorealist movement was so stylistically radical and groundbreaking that ascribing a lineage to it comes across as simplistic. Neorealist filmmaking was strongly backed by a theoretical framework and critical writings. Pioneers include filmmakers such as Vittorio De Sica and Roberto Rossellini as well as theoreticians and critics such as Cesare Zavattini and André Bazin.
Why it is important...
“The cinema was born with neo-realism” said filmmaker Giuseppe Bertolucci, not overselling the movement one bit. Not only did Neorealism directly give birth to iconic schools of filmmaking but also become a paradigm of sorts of non-propagandist partisan filmmaking. More importantly, it became the dialectical counterpart to the then dominant Soviet Montage, proposing an alternate DNA for cinema which lies not in editing, but within the shots themselves.
Where to find it...
Vittorio De Sica's Bicycle Thieves (1947) centres on a man who must find his stolen bicycle within a day if he is to retain his job. His journey through the hustle and bustle of Rome in search of his bike becomes something of a tour for the audience through the various facets and problems of the city.
How it is characterised…
Objectives
Neorealist films usually dealt with working class characters, even though it was never restricted to that. Their chief objective was to illustrate the social conditions of the country through the everyday experiences of their characters — the socio-political through the personal. Humanist in conception and execution, these downbeat yet sympathetic films attempted to examine the forces that shape the lives of an individual.
Style
The Neorealist style was founded on the tenet of maximal non-intrusion on the part of the director. The film screen was a transparent window through which the world could be observed. Most films were shot on location and involved only non-professional actors. Long shots, naturally lit and photographed in deep focus so that the viewer can decide what to concentrate on, were favoured over the cinematographic conventions of studio films.
