Neorealism
...lms are not improvisational, but he excelled at using non-professional actors because his own acting skill made him adept at eliciting good performances. He worked with his performers own body language and facial expressions, allowing them to look natural while conforming to the script (the effect is totally different, for example, from that of the non-professional actors in Visconti’s La Terra Trema). History: During the war, Mussolini’s Fascist party established a ministry of propaganda, but its director feared that the Italian public would reject heavily propagandistic films. Instead, he suggested that it support a cinema of “distraction” modeled on Hollywood. Mussolini agreed that an entertained public was a more quiescent one, so a huge government-owned studio complex was built, called Cinecittà (“cinema city”), as well as a film school called the Centro Sperimentale (“experimental center.”) Italy’s wartime “cinema of distraction” produced many popular comedies, as well as melodramas, which were usually set among the rich and known as “white telephone films.” A younger generation of filmmakers began to rebel against the Fascist government, however, and lean toward the country’s literary tradition of regional naturalism, which was in direct opposition to the apolitical filmmaking encouraged by the Fascists. The first film to be labeled with the literary term neorealsim was Luchino Visconti’s Obsession, released in 1943, but it was quickly banned by Mussolini. Neorealism was a minority film movement, representing about 10 percent of production between 1945 and 1953. Nevertheless, Rossellini’s Rome, Open City was first in box office receipts in 1945-46, and DeSica’s The Bicycle Thief was in 11th place in 1948-49. Other neorealist films did best overseas, however, in spite of their desire to address the experience of the mass public. This was often the case with postwar film movements, which emphasized social issues but also tended to challenge popular taste and thus find an international niche market as “art films.” After the war, European art film was revived in many countries. These films were often supported by government subsidy and part of what is now called “cultural maintenance,” since a distinctive film culture was often seen as an important part of maintaining a national identity. Vittorio de Sica's Italian Neorealist masterwork, THE BICYCLE THIEF, is a treasure of world cinema. After nearly two years of unemployment, Antonio (Lamberto Maggiorani) finally finds work posting bills. But he needs a bicycle to do the job. Unfortunately, he was forced to pawn his own bicycle long ago. In a humbling, tragic scene, Antonio exchanges his family's linen for his bicycle. But when the bike is stolen on his first day of work, he must comb the streets of Rome in search of the bike: his family's only means to survival. After three days of hunting, Antonio and his son, Bruno (Enzo Staiola), find the thief (Vittorio Antonucci)--but without witnesses or evidence, the police are unwilling to help Antonio. Hopeless, Antonio and Bruno wander aimlessly through Rome, landing outside of a soccer stadium where hundreds of bicycles are parked. His will broken, Antonio attempts to steal a bike but is caught in the act. Thematically, Vittoria de Sica's THE BICYCLE THIEF details an everyman story of loss of innocence in the face of a destitute society, while the film's poignant acting and directing creates an individual and heart-wrenching tale of one man's struggle to feed his family. The film is often considered one of the masterpieces of 20th century cinema. When I first saw "Ladri di Biciclette" I was still infatuated with the idea that all the known movie masterpieces must be regarded as untouchable ideals, that the film is definitely "good" ->end of story! But while I was watching the movie("Ladri di Biciclette") the true sensibility of the characters and of the shooting technique astonished me! The plot is simple but touching, the actors react naturally. Although the times they are living are awful, Antonio and Bruno lift themselves over the daily cares (they do have strong characters) and the father and son relationship is more than believable!!! I've never seen actors understanding each other better, and I don't mean it on a stage level! The looks on their faces when they should cry, but they don't, the famous take when father and son are standing on the sidewalk one thinking about the other, and what is left to be done! But what is most touching is the scene from the end, when Bruno's look actually saves his father from prison. The man who's bike was stolen shows that some people are human even in the darkest of times La Strada Touring the world with his show, the brawny Zampanò (Anthony Quinn) happens to meet the acquaintance of a poor peasant family with many children, from whom for just a few coins he buys the young Gelsomina (Giulietta Masina (wife of Fellini) in that time people called her „Chaplin girl”), a mild-natured, pretty young girl. Violent and possessive, Zampanò forces the young girl to accompany him with his show, where he pitilessly makes fun of her while he breaks chains with brute force to the astonishment of audiences: it is only Gelsomina's shyness and innocent nature that stop her reacting to the ill-treatment at the hands of this crude and brutal man. But during one of their tours, when they perform as part of a circus, the girl befriends the circus Fool, whose spontaneous goodness restores her faith in herself and persuades her to see herself through the beauty of her own soul, the only way to defeat the overbearing nature of her owner and save him from his own ignorance too. Zampanò, catching onto the tender relationship between the two, goes out of his mind with jealousy. In a rage he attacks the Fool, killing him, and throws his body in front of a train. Gelsomina, who witnesses the killing, withdraws into herself in a state of grief that slowly drags her to madness. Day after day, the girl's condition worsens and the killer, guilt-ridden and terrified of being found out, abandons her along the road. The years go by and Zampanò's life is sad and lonely. One day quite by chance the man learns of the death of the young Gelsomina and, distraught at the news, falls to his knees on the shore of desert...