Explain the term Neorealism and illustrate in what ways Ladri di biciclette andRoma città aperta, despite their differences, are both representative of Neorealist filmmaking.

Authors Avatar

E Explain the term Neorealism and illustrate in what ways Ladri di biciclette and Roma città aperta, despite their differences, are both representative of Neorealist filmmaking.

Michael Straghan.

The neorealist movement in Italian film was born in the war time period which saw the fall of the Nazi and fascist regimes in Italy. A form of cinema that depicted bare emotion and human feeling, it relied on reality for effect rather than Hollywood’s western flamboyance. This came largely from the state of post-war Italy, financially unable to justify extravagance, and with film studios often inhabited by refugees and those rendered homeless by the war, the films where often shot on location. This gave rise to dramatically bare sets, showing the rubble and debris, the street crime and unemployment that where a real part of post-war Rome.

        On a superficial level neorealism does use these features. We do witness cinematic verity; the non-professional casts do tend away from the star-system of Hollywood; but the most poignant characteristic is the documentary style with which the films are shot.

        Rossellini’s “Roma Città Aperta”, made in late 1945 just after the German retreat, is one of the earliest of neorealist films, and is certainly held to be the most melodramatic. The story of resistance among ordinary people, it mirrors life, filling its scenes with tragedy, comedy, and the continuous struggle of everyday life during occupation, undiluted by any romanticisation of the plot. The symbolism of the film draws towards an idealism for the future which brings hope to the bare sadness of the action. The main theme of the film shows the unity, through a prospective marriage, between a catholic family with the communist resistance. Francesco, a communist, is drawn into Pina’s family, with the common bond of hatred for their oppressors. Towards the end of the film, when the leader of the resistance, Manfredi, and Don Pietro are captured their fates are drawn together, and both are portrayed as martyrs, using a Christian visual imagery, such as the dying Manfredi stretched out in the form of a cross, to show the unity in their cause as a religious, fervent one.

Join now!

        The film is principally about fear, in Rossellini’s words – “everyone’s fear, but above all my own.” It is this personal touch which brings reality into the film, enhancing its docu-style approach. The hazy appearance of the picture itself, possibly due to poor quality film, plus the unreliability of electrical lighting gives way to a viewing very similar to war new reels of the time, poignant to contemporary audiences for whom this black-and-white footage spelt out the reality of war. Rossellini also inserted real war footage into the film. All of these factors where effective at the time because they ...

This is a preview of the whole essay