Amores Perros Vs Bicycle Thieves Essay

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How do the two films compare and differ with regards to various realist traits: Amores Perros and Bicycle Thieves

In this essay I will be comparing the two films: ‘Amores Perros’ and ‘Bicycle Thieves’. Amores Perros is a 2000 Mexican drama thriller, directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu. Bicycle Thieves is a 1948 Italian neorealism film directed by Vittorio de Sica. Both of these films are considered realism. I will compare the similarities and differences in regards to various realist traits.

Verisimilitude is the appearance of being true or real, and both films both deliver it in one way or another. One of the main ways the films are able to achieve this the camera technique. Both use handheld camera work and aim for a rough look. Only using real locations add to the verisimilitude as well as the use of non professional actors. Spectator positioning is definitely considered in the filming of both films. For example in Amores Perros, the scene right before Octavio crashes into Valeria, due to the positioning of the camera, we as the audience feel as though we are in the seat next to her. The close proximity from the close up makes the crash more shocking and therefore affects the viewer more than if the whole sequence was in a single long shot. Another way they were able to achieve this is that they allows some shots to …show more content…

In Bicycle Thieves, the narrative is linear and focuses on Antonio and his lost bike. In Amores Perros, the narrative is non-linear and focuses on three interconnected stories. Once again the similarities are clear in the intentions of the narratives : to show how life was for a certain group of people in the time period. Both show the economic hardships and the lives of ordinary people but while Bicycle Thieves focuses on how the depression affected families, Amores Perros focuses on the animosity humans can have in times of great