Talk:Italian neorealism

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All of the years on the films mentioned are exactly one year ahead except for Ossessione (1942) and Umberto D. (1952). You must have based your years per film on the imported release in America versus the domestic release in italy. La Terra Trema and The Bicycle Thief are both 1947 not 1948. If you are going by IMDB, they are wrong. Pick up a copy of the Cook Book (as it is referred to) titled "A History of Narrative Film" by David A Cook. Also, almost all film genres, so to speak, were born out of war. The Italian neorealist films of the 40s and 50s were no different. World War one gave birth to the musical and the gangster picture in america. The horror film, still the longest lasting genre, was born in Germany with the german expressionism films like The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), also shortly after WWI. And to be completely accurate, you may want to mention Cabiria directed by Giovanni Pastrone (1914) as a contrast to the italian neo-realists, who are oftem mentioned as filmmakers who "made the best out of a bad situation".

From the main page:

This genre was soon instrumentally used for political purposes too, but in the directors generally were able to keep a distinguishing barrier between art and politics.

There's a noun missing there: "but in the (noun) directors generally were able," etc. --KQ 14:58 Sep 9, 2002 (UTC)

I've made some major revisions, expanding the entry to be a little more comprehensive and cohesive. Obviously it could still use more expansion, but I am not expert enough to do so myself. I hope I haven't stepped on too many toes.

Also, I wouldn't really call Italian neorealism a genre, since the term, specifically in reference to films, usually involves archetypal plots and characters, and tends to be distinct from film "movements". User:Jun-Dai

[edit] Spaghetti Westerns?

I'd say we need to clarify why spaghetti Westerns were influenced by neorealism. Right now this sounds like a bit of a stretch, IMHO. -- Mabuse 15:17, 16 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] History and Attributes

One of the major influences not cited in the main body of the is that of writer Giovanni Verga, whose realist novels and stories hold many of the major themes of Neorealism, and whose novel I malavoglia is the basis for Visconti's La terra trema.

There are a few flaws in conventions being attributed to Neorealism and its history, for example:

The statement that children play a large role in substantially wrong, even if the role is 'observational'. While De Sica sometimes used children (Ladri di biciclette, Sciuscià) and Rossellini's Germania anno zero has a teenage protagonist, works like La terra trema, Paisà, Stromboli (both Rossellini), Riso amaro and Caccia tragica (both De Santis) have few, if any, scenes with children. Instead, the films can be said to focus more generally on the plight of communities and family.

This article may want to clarify to difference between realism, particularly social realism, and Neorealism. As shown by the multiple entries on realism, it can refer to a documentary-like discourse, the depiction of the proletariat or the ‘ordinary’ person in a perhaps abnormal situation, or simply as a work in contrast to a cheery, Romanticist work exploring, for example, poverty and crime, which is why one may argue that film noir is realist. According to the list in the article, Miracolo a Milano is a Neorealist film and yet it has a fairy godmother, people flying on brooms, and all manner of magic and special effects. One may still call it Neorealist, but not simply because it was made by a Neorealist director (De Sica).

Regarding its historical progression, some (e.g. Marcus, 1986) like to divide Neorealism, somewhat arbitrarily, into periods, with "Neorealism proper" referring to the immediate postwar (i.e. Roma città aperta) to Umberto D. Considering works like Ossessione and I bambini ci guardano (De Sica, 1942) to pre-date cinematic neorealism (literary neorealism is a whole other topic). However, Andre Bazin for one wrote of Fellini’s La notti di Cabiria as an end to neorealism, whereas scholars like Marcus suggest a decisive continuation of major Neorealist themes and practice in Italian cinema through the 1970s in the works of Francesco Rosi (who also worked with Rossellini), Ermanno Olmi, and the early work of Pier Paolo Pasolini. Clear influence is even evident in the 1990s with Gianni Amelio (Lamerica, Ladro di bambini). Conversely, directors like Antonioni tend to be questioned as Neorealists because their works have more stylish productions and tend to address philosophical rather than down-to-earth, humanist themes, which can even be argued of earlier Antonioni like Chronaca di un amore and Il grido, with the possible exception of his 1944 documentary Gente del Po. But as a ‘graduate’ of the French school (mentioned in the article), his oeuvre owes as much to the ‘poetic realism’ of Renoir and Marcel Carné as to the Italian literature, documentary, and fascist presence that affected Rossellini, De Sica, and Zavattini. On the other hand, some things about some of Antonioni’s films can be easily linked to Neorealism.

Considering this, Neorealism is easy to claim to an influence for most cinematic movements or traditions through the present day. Its production styles inspired Cahiers du Cinema critics/ French New Wave directors in their the location shooting and camerawork as well as the working-class content of Britain’s Free Cinema (as promoted by Lindsay Anderson) and the later “Kitchen Sink” films. In this respect, there is the potential to link Neorealism to Italian giallo films and Spaghetti Westerns though no bibliographical references come to mind.

For the article, I would propose saying much more about why neorealism began; it didn’t just happen. There is a socialist or at least anti-fascist trend about the stories being carried over from 1930s - Visconti was a proclaimed Communist. The studio system was destroyed, film stock and equipment limited, and they had to deal with that. As for its intentions, some like Zavattini say it was a new aesthetic approach, others say it was just a post-war cry for help. Anyways, I have a few sources for consideration (below) and I would be interested in helping to revise and expand the article if there is some way I can be contacted via Wikipedia without my email address being spread across the internet.

References: Canella, Mario, “Ideology and Aesthetic Hypotheses in the criticism of Neo-Realism”, Screen 14 (Spring/Summer 1972), p. 5-58.

Liehm, Mira, Passion and Defiance: Film in Italy from 1942 to the Present (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984).

Marcus, Millicent, Italian Film in the Light of Neorealism (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1986).

And all the essays in: Overbey, David (ed.) Springtime in Italy (London: Talisman Books, 1978).

ScarletProjectionist 12:48, 15 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] New articles to cover more ground

Neorealism in film extends far more than in just Italy. For example, there was a Bengali (Indian) neorealist movement in cinema around the same time as De Sica and others were making films. Of course, these other traditions owe their styles in part to the Italian one, but they deserve their own articles. Gautam ^Discuss 02:57, 1 May 2007 (UTC)

There is an article on the Indian movement at Parallel Cinema. It can certainly be improved but it's a start. - AKeen 17:26, 1 May 2007 (UTC)