Pre World-War II
Among the
critics and the films scholar, Italian
cinematic history was known as ‘neorealism’ which was a crucial watershed in
the evolution of the seventh art. Italian neorealism reflects the emphasis on
the social realism as it can be seen from one typical list of its general
characteristics. On the most sensitive critic era, neorealism is a cinema of
‘fact’ and ‘reconstituted reportage’ which contained the message of the
fundamental human society. According to Fellini, he declared ‘neorealism’ is a
way of seeing reality without prejudice without conventions coming between it
and myself.
During the
pre-war of Italian cinema, Benito Mussolini had seized the power of the Italian
cinema which was used as a form of propaganda, by educating the Italians with
the documentaries and newsreels in the year of 1922. Besides, Benito Mussolini
had set up Cinecittà studios in Rome and in the year of 1937, he took charge of
the studios and had doubled the Italian production within a year.
Benito Mussolini
Besides,
according to the pre-world war II Italian film industry journal, Neorealism was
not a new movement in cinema but it is a continuation of the pre-war ideas.
Thus, according to Marcia Landy, to regenerate the Italian cultural practices,
the neorealist had created their own myth which is the ‘newness’ of
‘beginning’.
After World-War II
Italian Neorealism came after World-War II. Italian
film industry loses its center after Benito Mussolini’s government fell. In
1942, Cesare Zavattini was the theoretical founder of neorealism.
He suggested a new form of Italian cinema that abolish
contrived and planned plot. Zavattini looked at plots as a fake structure of
everyday life. He claimed that professional actors complimented the falsehood.
In Italian Neorealism film, most of the actors are real-life actors. They never
received any performance training. Italian Neorealism emphasized on
contemporary social realism. Neorealism was known as a cinema of poverty and
pessimism. The citizens were suffering with poverty after world-war II. Poverty
had influenced the moral condition of the citizens. For example, in the film ‘Bicycle Thief’, the
main character Ricci forced to stole bicycle because he need a bicycle for
work.
The
scene which people were chasing Ricci because he stole others bicycle.
Upon after seeing Rosselini’s Rome, Open City (1945) and Vittorio De Sica’s Bicycle Thief (1948), many established director all over the world
were fascinated by a refreshing post war aesthetic which brought about the
engaging narrative techniques to bear upon social issues. Through these films,
it show that how a national identity could be redefined by cinema. The first
neorealism films had pointed toward other cinematic styles and themes. It is
the aesthetic alternatives to an ever-growing supply of American import.
Satyajit Ray describes his first encounter with Italian neorealism as a
life-changing experience.
