Table of ContentsIntroductionItalian Neorealist FilmsConclusionWorks CitedIntroductionThe end of World War II in the 1940s marked the beginning of an era marked by major socio-political and cultural changes for Italy, one of which was the fall of Mussolini and the fascist regime. In a post-war Italy that was thus accused, a group of film critics who worked at the film magazine Cinema, such as Luchino Visconti, Gianni Puccini, Cesare Zavattini, Giuseppe De Santis and Pietro Ingrao, saw the need to a neorealist vision. style of Italian cinema, and less than a decade after the war, these films saw the light of day. This essay will attempt to study and analyze four films considered to be among the best examples of Italian neorealist films – Germania Anno Zero (1948) by Roberto Rossellini, Ladri di Biciclette (1948) and Umberto D (1952) by Vittorio de Sica. and La Strada (1954) by Federico Fellini. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essayItalian Neorealist FilmsWhile most cinematic movements were born from artistic notions that filmmakers felt were missing in current trends in cinema , Italian neorealism stands out as an exception to this simply because it was born out of certain necessities as much as artistic filmmaking. A major characteristic often attributed to Italian neorealist films was the use of real locations rather than studios, unlike its other major contemporaries like Hollywood. While this certainly contributed to the style of neorealist films, it was also inevitable because filming at studios like Cinecitta was not possible due to the severe damage suffered during the war. This real place, in itself, then became “open, active and effective” in moving the narrative forward, as evidently seen in Rossellini’s Germania Anno Zero. The film's depiction of old buildings destroyed by war at the beginning and end tells a story of its own – a story of hardship that a war inflicted on a once prosperous nation. The film's young protagonist, Edmund, is another testament to the hardships that war repeatedly brought about as, like other juvenile characters in these films, he depicts the loss of innocence of an entire generation of children. Children like him often saw the "assurance of a safe domestic life" shattered when "boys were pushed into the role of provider and girls the role of caregiver" to support their families in an economic paralyzed. In the case of Edmund, who is responsible for supporting an entire family, this proves fatal for him, as his guilt over poisoning his father in an innocent attempt to help the family survive, motivated by her father's own desire not to be a burden, ultimately proves fatal. led to his suicide. Meanwhile, in Vittorio De Sica's Ladre di Biciclette, Bruno Ricci's loss of innocence is depicted through him witnessing the injustice of society which shatters any hope he or his father would have could have a better future. The stolen bicycle and the ensuing struggle to find it become a life lesson for this young boy, who testifies that his father turned into a bicycle thief out of desperation and was beaten by an angry mob. His innocence, like Edmund's, ends the moment they realize that the line between what is just and unjust in a war-torn society is very blurred or distorted in favor of the wealthier. It is indeed on this fact that the title of the film, Ladri di Biciclette (The Thievesbicycles), makes the viewer think. If an honest man like Antonio was driven to steal a bike out of desperation, was the first thief just another man caught in a similar situation? The film does not provide a clear answer to this question, but it clearly demonstrates the lack of interest on the part of the country's governing authorities to ensure the happiness of working-class citizens, which forces them to look for other means. whether moral or illegal to survive in a harsh society. The similarity of Vittorio De Sica's protagonists in Ladri di Biciclette and Umberto D begins and ends with them facing various difficulties of the war that make them desperate in search of some form of employment or income . While Antonio seems familiar and capable of hard physical labor, Umberto, at retirement age, is pushed onto the streets to beg for money when his inability to pay his rent causes him to hover above his head the threat of expulsion. Umberto, who probably held a respectable job in his youth, is embarrassed to be seen begging in public. When he fails, he makes his dog, Flike, beg. However, when he comes face to face with an old acquaintance, he claims that his dog was just playing. This highlights an important complication that middle-class gentlemen face in such times. Even in the face of despair, when "inflation and disease erode their meager pension", men like Umberto care more about the "outward appearances" of "a clean shirt, decent behavior and good manners" than about earn a salary because they are more afraid. of “loss of face, of appearing poor, and of poverty itself”. The most common themes of this movement centered on the despair and loss of faith of citizens in their own government (among other sociopolitical and cultural themes) which made these films stand out for their depiction of life, however crude and realistic as possible. The use of real locations, the minimal use of editing, the use of non-professional actors and the absence of rehearsal sequences before each shot helped to give Italian neorealist films a very realistic appearance. The use of real locations such as the Pantheon in front of which Umberto's fall is witnessed effectively highlights the contrast between the prosperity of Italy and its people in the past and their fall into poverty and humiliation in the present. while the use of non-professional actors in these films forces them “to be before expressing themselves” since the professional actor is replaced by a simple man in the street. Here, Vittorio De Sica’s Bruno becomes simply another “silhouette, a face, a way of walking”. Furthermore, within the story itself, the minimal use of editing or cutting successfully conveys the actual duration of the event or at least gives viewers an idea of ​​it. While these films explore real, tragic events, Fellini's La Strada contains a comedic element. Although the characters in these films are just as dramatic as in other films, the comedic element here comes from the use of characters like the Fool who act as comic relief. Here the idea is not only of tragedy or comedy, but also of depicting the reality of everything inside man, including "spiritual reality" and "metaphysical reality". . In this sense, the existential theme represented through the dialogue of the Fool and Gelsomina, whose similarity with Chaplin's "Little Tramp" adds to the tragi-comic element of human fragility, distinguishes the neorealism of this film from others of his time. Keep in mind.