Italian Neo-Realism Contextual Studies

DRAFT
The Italian new wave, or most commonly referred to as Italian Neo-Realism started not too long after the second world war ended and Italy was liberated in 1945. With the fall of Mussolini's regime the Italian film directors were finally free from the censorship imposed on them. With the new freedom to film what they want they were able to merge a desire for social political and economic themes that were once rejected by the regime (filmreference.com 2018), so they were now able to give their own political and social views on Italy without fear of being stopped by the regime. The main ideal of the directors however was to rebuild the Italian film industry and show off the true beauty of Italy even after the devastation and destruction of the second world war. The films that I will be discussing in this essay are; 'Rome, Open City' Which released in 1945 directed by Roberto Rossellini, 'Bicycle Thieves' which released in 1948 directed by Vittorio De Sica, and 'Umberto D' directed by Vittorio De Sica. All three of these films were products of the Italian Neorealism new wave.

To start we need to look at the years prior to the beginning of Italian Neo-Realism films, specifically at the 1930s up to 43 under the fascist dictatorship of Benito Mussolini. Before he became the leader of Italy in 1922 the film industry in Italy had a lot of freedom to create what they wanted and show any views the directors had, but once Mussolini's fascist regime started tightening its grip on the media in Italy the film industry was hit with heavy censorship, preventing any films showing Italy or the fascist regime in a bad light, so no criticising Mussolini or the government, or on the state of the country. With these limitations to the directors, the films that were released were mainly dramas or comedies, however these only portrayed the upper class lifestyle of Italy where the country looked good and happy. Later on in 1943 once Mussolini was killed and his regime over, censorship was lifted and this paved way for the beginning of Neo-Realist movies in 1945. In Italy neo realist films were not that popular as they reflected the harsh truths of Italy during and after the war and so the people of Italy preferred to watch the dramas and comedies previously mentioned as to experience escapism from the reality of post war Italy, but in the international market neo-realism films proved to be very popular as they gave an insight to the life of Italians during and after the war. These films would show how the people were oppressed by German soldiers and Italian soldiers, and how poor the conditions were for everybody in the cities.

Italian Neo-realism has some very recognizable features and techniques that have later gone on to inspire other new waves, such as the American new wave and French new wave. Some of these techniques are things like having long takes, or jump cuts and we can see these in the Neo realism films right from the start. but, more primarily the main goal of neo realism was to show the true Italy, it was said about the directors that "They showed Italy - despite its wounds and lacerations - was an extraordinary natural backdrop"(The History of Italian Cinema 2003). This is noticeable in all neo realism films as the main point is to show the countries beauty, and Rome, Open City shows this best as it is focused around the capital of Italy, Rome, and so we get to see the true beauty and glory of Rome even after the horrors of the second world war. Sticking with Rome Open City, we also get to see the technique of long takes right in the first few minutes with the arrival of the soldiers where the we just sit and watch them walk to buildings for a while, and also later when the soldiers are inside the leaders home there is one take where the soldier and woman are talking in one of the room and the camera just remains stationary and pans tracking the soldier left and right as he searches the room, never once cutting to a different angle. This technique of using long takes is to give the audience a better sense of verisimilitude as compared to Hollywood movies where the shot shows the action then cuts to keep the pace of the movie quick, but instead in Neo Realism the long takes allow the audience to feel like they are actually there spectating the situations the people are in.