Italian Neorealism Flashcards
Who coined the term “Neorealism”?
1943: Umberto Barbero coined “neorealism”, attacking mindless triviality, refusal to address pressing social concerns like poverty, injustice and phony glamour;
What choices that filmmakers have to make at this time?
Moral obligation to use their films for encouraging social change; Make people aware of the difficulty in daily lives of working class people and the fails of the institutions “Moral position for which to look at the world” becomes “artistic position”
What is their Ideological Standpoint?
New democratic spirit with emphasis on the value of ordinary people;
Compassionate point of view, refusal to make easy moral judgement;
Preoccupied with recent past and the aftermath of the war;
Blending of Christian and Marxist approach to humanism
Emphasis on emotions than abstract ideas.
What is their Stylistic Standpoint?
Avoid neatly plotted story, loose episodic structure, a lot of improvisation
Documentary visual style
Use of actual location
Use of non professional actors
Use of conversational speech (“naturalistic”), not literary dialogue
Avoidance of any artificial effects in editing, camerawork and lighting
What can be said about Vittorio De Sica (1901-1974)?
was a theater actor, cinema star for musical comedies from 1930s-1940s and later directed movies that were deeper, more sensitive, more ambitious than his previous works.
He developed increasing level of realism, infused stories and documentary techniques;
Social commentary
Individuals within family unit or daily lives
Greek tragedy style: tragic ends are inevitable
What can be said about Cesare Zavattini?
“Ordinary and daily lives are main business of cinema”
Dismiss conventional structure;
Work with found material, avoid shaped and manipulated stories;
Insist that what going on in life is inherently more dramatic
Excavation of reality;
No plots but facts and all their echoes and reverberation.
What can be said about De Sica and Zavattini partnership?
De Sica partnered with Cesare Zavattini in a team of director - screenwriter.
Zavattini was a screenwriter, Marxist film theorist and un unofficial spokesperson for the Neorealism movement;
Their collaboration included: Shoeshines, Bicycle Thieves, Miracles from Milan, Umberto D… 8 films in total.
Dialectical tension between two artists with different sensibility;
Poetry, feelings and poignancy combined with facts and political ideas
Roberto Rossellini (1906-77)
detached ironies, paradoxical observations, conceptual framing, and elliptical narratives Rome, Open city 1945 Paisan 1946 Germany Year Zero 1947 Voyage to Italy/ Strangers 1953 India 1958
De Sica and Zavattini films?
Shoeshine 1946
Bicycle Thieves 1948
Miracle in Milan 1950
Umberto D. 1952
