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Cinematic characteristics of the italian neo-realist film movement
Cinematic characteristics of the italian neo-realist film movement
Mise en scene italian neorealism
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With the end of the war and the fall of Mussolini, the international audiences were introduced to a new film style which is Italian films through a few great works by Rossellini, De Sica, and Luchino Visconti that appeared after 1945. For example, film from Rossellini’s “Roma, città aperta” in 1945 (Rome, Open City, 1945) and “Paisà” in 1946 (Paisan, 1946). For De Sica is “Sciucià” (Shoeshine, 1946), “Ladri di biciclette” (The Bicycle Thieves, 1948), and “Umberto D.” in 1952 and Visconti “La terra trema” (The Eart Trembles, 1948). Italian neorealist films stressed with social themes such as war, resistance, poverty and unemployment. They seemed to reject traditional Hollywood dramatic and cinematic conventions. Furthermore, Italian neorealist films often privileged on-location shooting rather than studio work. Besides that, many directors preferred the documentary photographic style under the former regime …show more content…
Unfortunately, Italian film historians tended to speak of neo-realism as if it were a legitimate movement with universally agreed-upon thematic or stylistic principles. Other than that, the controlling fiction works of the best Italian
To draw the conclusion, it can be effectively said that it is very difficult to incorporate the ideas contained in books into films, especially when one has to prove some theory. Pasolini has done it successfully by incorporating his film theory contained in the book Heretical Empricism into the film Mamma Roma. Pasolini’s creativity is an integral part of the classical art. He gave his life to change the world for the better through his films. He has not only presented his socialistic thoughts in the film, but also included religious motifs of Christianity to show the plight of a woman in this materialistic society. The development of unforgettable emotions and memories are guaranteed in return. Modern society should know and remember the
A Bronx tale is a story of a father who tries to win back the love and pride of his son from a showy neighborhood mob boss. In my opinion this film is the best portrayal of work ethic. Lorenzo, played by Robert DeNiro, plays a father who tries to teach his son that discipline and hard work pay off from working, in the long. His son Calogero, played by Lillo Brancato, is exposed to the life of a mob boss Sonny, played by Chazz Palmenteri,, and doesn’t understand why he should live a life of difficulty when he can have a life of luxury. He tries to explain to his son that the men in the community don’t look up to him, but rather they fear him He also tries to make clear that it’s easy to do what he does, but try waking up every morning and working everyday, that’s a real man.
Since its release in 1966, Gillo Pontecorvo's The Battle of Algiers has divided critical opinion. The film which depicts the Algerian struggle for independence against French colonial power, was awarded the Lion d'Or at the 1966 Venice Film Festival. Yet, despite this acclaim, the inherently controversial film was banned in France until 1971 due to its graphic portrayal of torture and repression during the Algerian war. The politically engaged director had however sought to make The Battle of Algiers within a 'dictatorship of truth,' neither supporting the Algerians nor reducing his film to propaganda. Influenced by the distinctive film style Neorealism, Pontecorvo rendered such an extraordinarily accurate reflection of social reality that the film's original U.S. distributor inserted the disclaimer: "Not one foot of newsreel or documentary film has been used." The following sequence analysis will therefore explore the neorealist cinematic techniques employed by Pontecorvo and examine their effects on our understanding of the issues and themes raised within the film.
Second World War, which lasted from 1939 until 1945 had an influence to many various areas, especially, it made a huge impact to European economy, but it had an effect on almost every field of art as well. During the Second World War and after it art and especially, cinema was used for propaganda purposes to impart people and their attitude. Vladimir Lenin, a Russian communist and politician, said that ‘of all the arts, for us the cinema is the most important‘. The movement called neorealism thrived in post-war world, especially in Italy. It is defined as a movement, which focused mostly on social issues and describes the lives of the poor side of the society. Vittorio de Sica (1901-1974) was an Italian actor, director and auteur during period after Second World War. In Italy neorealism in the cinema started with a film called Rome, Open City (1945) by Roberto Rosellini another famous director, writer and neorealist. Umberto D. (1952) a film created by Vittorio de Sica is considered to be the end of the movement. Vittorio de Sica is famous for his films Bicycle Thieves and Umberto D....
In the late 1960’s a new subgenre was born: “European Western”, most well known as “Spaghetti Western”. Per un Pugno di Dollari (A Fistful of Dollars) is a movie that represents this genre. It was made in 1964 by Sergio Leone, starring Clint Eastwood, and with a musical score composed by Ennio Morricone. This film set the pace and tone of the genre, so despite personal taste, this movie can be called revolutionary and influential. Key factors for such achievement are detailed next: the direction of photography, the editing, the neorealist influence, the film score, and advantage of the international financed production.
Bicycle Thieves is considered an example of Italian Neo-realism. The plot demonstrates Italians of the working class in Italy and unfolds their day to day lives. One could argue it portray the reality and develops into an emotional storyline towards the end. Antonio, the main character is offered a job requiring a bicycle and on his first day it was stolen on the streets. You immediately feel drawn to the character as you want to see a happy ending. Watching the film, automatically feel sorry for him as he’s got no money and needs to make a living as soon as possible for his wife with two children to support. From the close ups and observational shots it clearly shows he is desperate as Antonio and his son Bruno go around searching for it for hours. The opening sequence uses the conventions of documentary to introduce the film giving an impression of realism and authenticity, which attracted me to the film instantly. These shots were used to capture realism. The function of this scene is to illustrate the nature of surrounding and an insight of Italy at this time.
Italian neo realist cinema and British social realist cinema have some similarities in some ways. First of all we may say both of them breaks through dimensions for the individuals of their culture. They try to give tensions about the war. Both gives us a perspective to look at the cinema as a natural eye. The important thing is to able to look and see as Berger’s said. (John Berger _ Ways of Seeing) So I will try to give a brief story of two films from these fields.
Nevertheless Italian NeoRealism was essential to Italy’s film industry at the time the war ended and while Europe was recovering from the war. Its impact on modern film has been monumental, not only in Italian film but also on French New Wave cinema, and ultimately on films all over the world.
An obvious difference in these films is that the 1931 version played to a Depression audience and that the Coppola version played to a modern audience. (I am being extremely careful because, obviously, the 1931 audience was modern in 1931; however, we like to think of ourselves as being more modern than past generations. There are differences in the audiences which viewed the respective versions in their time, and I hope to prove this point as the paper unfolds.)
The classification and cataloging of items seem to fulfill a basic need in human beings, whether it is vegetable, mineral or animal. It seems that this basic need to analyze and categorize items applies also to objets d’art, including film – and the recognition or dismissal of film noir as a genre has been argued since the term was coined. While the term itself is valid, film noir as a genre is a misnomer. More properly, film noir should be considered a style unto itself, but definitively not genre, defined by the very definitions of the words “style” and “genre”. We will limit our subject matter here to the classic film noir period of 1941-1958, recognizing that all modern noir variants seek to emulate this period. These modern films do not lack merit; however for purposes of defining and labeling noir the original defining elements are what matter. If classical film noir is a stylistic movement, then those films following that movement are, by definition, also a stylistic movement and likewise not genre.
Italian neorealism also called the Golden Age of Italian Cinema, is a national film movement portrayed by stories set amongst poor people and the regular workers, filmed on location, frequently using non-professional actors. Italian neorealism movies for the most part fight with the troublesome financial and good states of post-World War II Italy, representing changes in the Italian psyche and conditions of everyday life, including poverty, oppression, injustice and desperation. It mirrored the changing styles and states of mind of silver screen after WWII. Not just did Neorealism impact the way fictional movies were delivered in Italy, additionally in different nations too. While Neorealism served as a model for many of the films produced
Italian neorealism emerged after World War II, and had profound historical and cultural impacts on society and the film industry. Three specific traits of neorealist style included, but were not limited to: the use of working class characters (non-professional actors); the use of real locations as settings; and open, oftentimes unhappy, endings. In the closing scene from Bicycle Thieves (Vittorio De Sica, 1948), all three of these neorealist elements are present.
The film Cinema Paradiso was originated in 1988, it is a drama film that was directed by Giuseppe Tornatore and it’s original title was Nuovo Cinema Paradiso. The film was an inspiring way of exploring Italian Cinema and how it’s importance to viewers it truly is. Salvator, who is the main character looked up to Alfredo as a child, who was his best friend and teacher who taught him everything he knows about film making. In Cinema Paradiso the film dealt with several elements such as scenery, photography, editing, sound, lighting. Cinema Paradiso film showed specific understanding of the Italian and American traditions place in the history of this film. Cinema Paradiso is a film that not only is strong in Italian culture but also shows the significance
Neo noir genre of film production is a style that has existed in the world of film production since the 1940s. Neo is a French word for new while noir means black. Noir film means black film although it does not literally incorporate the racial orientation of the black people. Rather it is the mood and attitude of the film in terms of different styles.
Vittorio De Sica was the director of The Bicycle Thieves and his films and the style used on them led to the Italian Neorealist movement together Roberto Rossellini's film; Rome: Open City, which gave a new measure of realism to cinema (Snyder and Howard 139). Neorealism often refers to films of working class life and of the efforts and social environment of people engrossed in a culture of poverty. Italian Neorealism was a pioneering breakthrough, not only due to its technical style and raw filmmaking, but also for the gritty realism of the story depicted and emotional naturalism the characters in the film. According to Andre Bazin, neorealism implies no more actors, no more sets and no more stories which in artistic illusion of reality implying that there are no more cinemas (MacCabe 14).