A revolutionary movement: studying the legacy of Italian neorealism
When the first films were made in the late 1800s, no one could’ve anticipated what the medium would become. From short, grainy silent movies to multi-million dollar productions featuring computer-generated imagery and camera quality as sharp as the human eye, cinema has come a long way in a relatively short space of time. As it progressed, various movements emerged, transforming the art form, challenging its purpose and pushing its boundaries.
Italian neorealism began as the Second World War was coming to an end, and it now stands as one of the most influential periods of cinema in the history of the medium. Italy had been gravely affected by war and fascism, and people were reeling from the aftershock. Poverty was rife among large groups of people, and the kinds of characters and lives depicted in mainstream Italian cinema simply weren’t representative of the population. Telefoni Bianchi movies were a popular form of cinema in Italy during the 1930s and ‘40s, but these films, which aimed to present a prosperous view of the country, were hardly realistic.
As the government collapsed with the assassination of Benito Mussolini, so did the industry, allowing a new crop of filmmakers with more daring ideas to come through. These directors, like Luchino Visconti, Vittorio De Sica and Roberto Rossellini, decided to shift the focus towards the large majority of people in Italy who weren’t represented on screen: the working class and the impoverished. Their works predominantly dealt with issues relating to money, family, war, youth and crime, with some of the most enduring being Bicycle Thieves, Rome, Open City, Stromboli, Shoeshine, Umberto D., and Bitter Rice.
Italian neorealist movies typically featured a cast of non-actors, often centring children in their narratives, which reflected a sense of innocence that contrasted with the harsh conditions they were subjected to. Location shooting was also important, depicting the kinds of urban wastelands and war-torn environments that many people had to live in. Still, these films often showed the power of community and family amid desperate times, such as the loving father-son relationship in Bicycle Thieves or the bond between a man and his dog in the face of homelessness in Umberto D. The latter is also quite humorous at times, standing in opposition to the truly tragic entries to the movement, like Germany, Year Zero.
By the early ‘50s, the movement had waned in strength, largely due to many Italian viewers finding the neorealist depiction of their country depressing and disheartening. As new political parties were trying to gain support and people were expressing a desire to move on from the ruins of war, Italian neorealism reflected a period of misery and struggle. Still, its influence lingered on, inspiring many cinematic movements in its wake. Glimmers of the movement can be found in cinema from across the globe, whether that be stylistically or thematically.
The French New Wave was significantly influenced by Italian neorealism, with filming techniques like handheld cameras and on-location shooting, which came to define the works of directors like Jean-Luc Godard, Agnes Varda, and François Truffaut. These auteurs often used actors with little formal training, too, although they preferred to employ more experimental techniques like breaking the fourth wall and occasionally adding a musical number. The colours and editing techniques employed by the French New Wave also differed, but at its core, this creative approach to filming, alongside thematic explorations of social and political issues, was indebted to the Italian neorealists.
Without the previous movement, it’s hard to imagine how the French New Wave would’ve developed, as it was the neorealist’s fearless approach to rewriting the cinematic rules that partly inspired these French filmmakers to do the same. Similarly, the rebellious nature of the neorealists inspired other movements, like Parallel Cinema in India, the Iranian New Wave, Cinema Novo in Brazil and the Polish Film School. While these weren’t as popular as the French New Wave, they were all vital movements that largely focused on themes regarding social issues, carrying on the neorealist legacy. Giulia Saccogna, the programmer for the BFI’s ‘Chasing the Real: Italian Neorealism’, emphasised the movement’s influence in an interview with Far Out, explaining: “It has always been ingrained in the fabric of independent arthouse cinema.”
The New Hollywood era was massively influenced by foreign and independent cinema, such as the works made by the Italian neorealists. This was a period where new American filmmakers decided to rebel against the dominance of studios and create more artistically-driven movies, often exploring nihilistic or taboo themes, leading to the rise of more creative mainstream movies and, eventually, blockbusters. Auteurs like Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese gained prominence during this time, with the latter possessing a particular love for Italian neorealism. You can see traces of the movement in films like Taxi Driver, where the protagonist, Travis Bickle, suffers from PTSD after serving in the Vietnam War, struggling to readapt to a society that is infected by crime and urban decay.
Before Italian neorealism, cinema and politics weren’t as closely intertwined, but thanks to filmmakers like De Sica and Rossellini, the two became more linked, suggesting that the medium could be used for more than just escapism. While the Italian neorealists weren’t the first to prove this, the movement delivered so many strong examples of films powered by themes relating to politics and social issues that it has become impossible to separate the popularity of realism in cinema from this golden period of Italian filmmaking. Thus, the movement still endures today, with modern movies, from Fish Tank to Nomadland, bearing clear thematic and stylistic assets taken from the neorealist period, such as documentary-esque filming and explorations of economically disadvantaged characters.
The enduring nature of Italian neorealism proves that these movies have an essence of universality to them. Viewers still connect with the stories and characters presented within these films, even if they are often bleak and pessimistic, and they’ve subsequently inspired countless other directors. These movies from the neorealist period all contain an undeniable amount of humanity, with their directors harnessing a level of empathy and understanding that makes for beautiful filmmaking – even the quest for a stolen bicycle becomes a poetic and poignant tale. Thus, without it, other monumental periods in cinema history, like the French New Wave and New Hollywood, might have looked wildly different.
Chasing the Real: Italian Neorealism is at BFI Southbank from May 1st – June 30th, with selected films also available to watch on BFI Player.
Rome, Open City was re-released by the BFI in selected cinemas from May 17th.
