Bicycles to Beaches: The Evolution of Neorealism
Kathleen Brosnahan
History and Criticism of Film
Professor Saphire
October 7th, 2020
Neorealism is a film movement that started in Italy after the destruction of the second World War. Under Mussolini, the country was in a facist regime that rejected democracy and promoted a candy-coated view of life, evident in the White Telephone films of that era, to cover up the corruption. Italian filmmakers, such as Vittorio De Sica wanted to show the raw reality of life and fight against censorship, thus creating neorealism. Neorealism focuses mainly on worldly struggles, specifically those in urban decay, in an organic way differing from the dramatization of Hollywood. This genre of films often use natural camera angles and lighting, close-ups are used sparingly, and sometimes the camera lingers instead of following the main protagonist of the film. Neorealism was hugely influential, spinning off into the French New Wave, and later in black cinema. The effect of this genre has sunken deep into the films of today, and continues to evolve.
One of the films that started it all for neorealism was Vittorio De Sica’s Bicycle Thieves. It wasn’t the first of the genre to grace the cinema, but it is the most popular. The film follows Antonio Ricci, a young man struggling in the post-war unemployment crisis. A position is available as a bill poster, but he must own a bicycle, and on the first day of the job, it’s stolen. With his innocent, moral-compassing son Bruno, he searches for his lifeline with no luck, and he gets increasingly desperate and his morals erode. The film ends on a hopeless note as he steals someone’s bike and is nearly brought to jail. Bicycle Thieves introduces many concepts to neorealism, such as distant, natural angles and lighting, sparse close ups, a grainy look, unprofessional actors, and documentary style filmmaking. It also presents other, non-aesthetic elements, such as themes of poverty, urban decay, childhood innocence, abandonment, and trying to stay afloat in the chaotic waters of the modern world.
Three decades later, the characteristics of neorealist film evolved into black cinema. These movies exemplified the hard lives of African Americans in the seventies; trudging through racism and poverty. A film to come out of this era was Charles Burnett’s independent cult classic, Killer of Sheep. It follows a black man named Stan who works in a draining meat processing plant and does occasional odd jobs, just barely affording to feed his family of four. Hope comes to him in the form of an old engine he can sell, but on the way to the pawn shop, the engine falls and breaks. However, he doesn’t let it get to him, and he continues to work hard in hopes the future will be better. Like Bicycle Thieves before it, Killer of Sheep incorporates the raw reality of life in an impoverished, decaying environment with the hallmark organic cinematography of neorealism, including inspiration from Michelangelo Antonioni. It incorporates the themes of childhood innocence through Stan’s young daughter and abandonment via his broken relationship with his wife, which also introduces the concept of sexuality to this genre by writing Stan as impotent due to his rough job.
A recent addition to black cinema is Barry Jenkins’ spectacular love letter to neorealism and Charles Burnett, Moonlight. The movie is about a gay black man named Chiron growing up in the slums, who was neglected by his addict mother and harassed by the other kids at school, and his mother’s drug dealer raises him. He falls in love with his childhood friend Kevin, gets put in juvenile detention for hitting one of his bullies with a chair, tries to reconnect with his mother, and reconnects with his lover. Moonlight implements many of the thematic and cinematographic elements prominent in neorealism. This is especially true with abandonment, Chiron was found by the dealer in an abandoned house, and later in life Chiron leaves his old life behind and tries to reinvent himself, and sexuality in his orientation and the several intimate scenes in the film. Like Bicycle Thieves, Moonlight also uses many distant shots and uses close ups sparingly, and only for more emotional scenes.
Neorealism was a film movement that began in post-WW2 Italy that captures the raw reality of the struggles the world faces everyday. It developed from Mussolini’s rule as a rejection of censorship and facism, and it shook the movie world. Neorealism is characterized by organic lighting and camera angles, including sparse close ups, and is thematically identifiable by urban decay, poverty, abandonment, childhood innocence, and adversity. All of these are presented in a natural, gritty manner opposite of the glorification and dramatization of Hollywood. It evolved into the French New Wave, and eventually into black cinema, like Killer of Sheep, and finally into the mainstream movies of today, such as Moonlight.
History and Criticism of Film
Professor Saphire
October 7th, 2020
Neorealism is a film movement that started in Italy after the destruction of the second World War. Under Mussolini, the country was in a facist regime that rejected democracy and promoted a candy-coated view of life, evident in the White Telephone films of that era, to cover up the corruption. Italian filmmakers, such as Vittorio De Sica wanted to show the raw reality of life and fight against censorship, thus creating neorealism. Neorealism focuses mainly on worldly struggles, specifically those in urban decay, in an organic way differing from the dramatization of Hollywood. This genre of films often use natural camera angles and lighting, close-ups are used sparingly, and sometimes the camera lingers instead of following the main protagonist of the film. Neorealism was hugely influential, spinning off into the French New Wave, and later in black cinema. The effect of this genre has sunken deep into the films of today, and continues to evolve.
One of the films that started it all for neorealism was Vittorio De Sica’s Bicycle Thieves. It wasn’t the first of the genre to grace the cinema, but it is the most popular. The film follows Antonio Ricci, a young man struggling in the post-war unemployment crisis. A position is available as a bill poster, but he must own a bicycle, and on the first day of the job, it’s stolen. With his innocent, moral-compassing son Bruno, he searches for his lifeline with no luck, and he gets increasingly desperate and his morals erode. The film ends on a hopeless note as he steals someone’s bike and is nearly brought to jail. Bicycle Thieves introduces many concepts to neorealism, such as distant, natural angles and lighting, sparse close ups, a grainy look, unprofessional actors, and documentary style filmmaking. It also presents other, non-aesthetic elements, such as themes of poverty, urban decay, childhood innocence, abandonment, and trying to stay afloat in the chaotic waters of the modern world.
Three decades later, the characteristics of neorealist film evolved into black cinema. These movies exemplified the hard lives of African Americans in the seventies; trudging through racism and poverty. A film to come out of this era was Charles Burnett’s independent cult classic, Killer of Sheep. It follows a black man named Stan who works in a draining meat processing plant and does occasional odd jobs, just barely affording to feed his family of four. Hope comes to him in the form of an old engine he can sell, but on the way to the pawn shop, the engine falls and breaks. However, he doesn’t let it get to him, and he continues to work hard in hopes the future will be better. Like Bicycle Thieves before it, Killer of Sheep incorporates the raw reality of life in an impoverished, decaying environment with the hallmark organic cinematography of neorealism, including inspiration from Michelangelo Antonioni. It incorporates the themes of childhood innocence through Stan’s young daughter and abandonment via his broken relationship with his wife, which also introduces the concept of sexuality to this genre by writing Stan as impotent due to his rough job.
A recent addition to black cinema is Barry Jenkins’ spectacular love letter to neorealism and Charles Burnett, Moonlight. The movie is about a gay black man named Chiron growing up in the slums, who was neglected by his addict mother and harassed by the other kids at school, and his mother’s drug dealer raises him. He falls in love with his childhood friend Kevin, gets put in juvenile detention for hitting one of his bullies with a chair, tries to reconnect with his mother, and reconnects with his lover. Moonlight implements many of the thematic and cinematographic elements prominent in neorealism. This is especially true with abandonment, Chiron was found by the dealer in an abandoned house, and later in life Chiron leaves his old life behind and tries to reinvent himself, and sexuality in his orientation and the several intimate scenes in the film. Like Bicycle Thieves, Moonlight also uses many distant shots and uses close ups sparingly, and only for more emotional scenes.
Neorealism was a film movement that began in post-WW2 Italy that captures the raw reality of the struggles the world faces everyday. It developed from Mussolini’s rule as a rejection of censorship and facism, and it shook the movie world. Neorealism is characterized by organic lighting and camera angles, including sparse close ups, and is thematically identifiable by urban decay, poverty, abandonment, childhood innocence, and adversity. All of these are presented in a natural, gritty manner opposite of the glorification and dramatization of Hollywood. It evolved into the French New Wave, and eventually into black cinema, like Killer of Sheep, and finally into the mainstream movies of today, such as Moonlight.
Your essay is doing a lot of positive things in its attempt to weave our resources into your arguments. My suggestion for improvement is basically organizational. It seems to me that your conclusion is a much stronger paragraph than your introduction. Reading it, I felt that the essay would be set up better if the conclusion were the intro. There are sentences in it that successfully set the stage for more integrated and supported arguments and comparisons between the films. Using it as a conclusion leaves me wanting more supportive details to expand on the strong synthesis that you provide. Organizing in this way might give you more freedom to weave the films together as well, as the descriptions of each feel a bit disconnected from each other. You’re attempting to do a lot with this essay (particularly in addressing Fascism and the impetus for neorealism), which displays a strong engagement with the topic.
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