Neo-Realism

NEO-REALISM

Suggested Viewings

Ossessione (1942)
Rome, Open City (1945)
Paisan (1946)
La Terra Trema (1948)
Germany Year Zero (1948)
Bicycle Thieves (1948)
Francis, God’s Jester (1950)
Umberto D. (1952)
La Strada (1954)
Pather Panchali (1955)
Il Tetto (1956)
Il Posto (1961)
Kes (1969)
American Graffiti (1973)
Padre Padrone (1977)
Children of Heaven (1999)
Not One Less (1999)
The Son (2002)
Nobody Knows (2004)
Turtles Can Fly (2004)

Way back in the third article, we talked about the three main types of filmmaking: Realism, Classicism, and Formalism. Now, where would you classify the films we’ve seen so far? Pretty much everything was along the lines of classicism, with the occasional foray into formalism. Maybe The Grapes of Wrath is on the realism side, but that was a rare exception for Hollywood.

However, after World War II things started to change. Before the war, Italy was one of the most prolific and influential filmmaking countries. They specialized in huge-budget epic films, with giant sets and thousands of actors. But during the war, Italy was occupied by the Germans, then the Americans, and was pretty much torn up by all the fighting. After the war, there weren’t any usable studios, the big name actors had all left, and there was very little money for film equipment. So the filmmakers took to the streets and made simple stories about the struggles of everyday people. This movement later became known as Neo-realism.

Check out the first few minutes of Martin Scorsese’s documentary about Italian Cinema called My Voyage to Italy. As you can see, these early Italian films had a huge impact on Scorsese, both as a person and a filmmaker. When Roberto Rossellini's film Rome, Open City came out in 1945, it opened the eyes of a lot of potential filmmakers. They realized that to make a film you didn’t need a huge budget and special effects and big name actors. You could make stories about your own life experiences with very little money.

Some characteristics of Neo-realism:

Set in the Present (or near-past)--this means that in Italy in 1945-49 there were a lot of films that took place during or right after WWII.
Non-professional actors--they used regular people that hadn’t acted in film before.
Shot on already existing locations--no studios or sets.
Stories about everyday situations and people--the kinds of things most people at the time could relate to.
Often bleak, somewhat pessimistic, dealing with hardship and poverty.
Open endings--not a tragedy where everyone dies. Not a “happy ending” where they achieve their goals. But a frustrating ending where we don’t know what’s going to happen.

Download: Neorealism handout

Here are a few more examples: