Neorealism In Film

Recorded throughout history, a number of film movements have dared to explore the unconventional; in particular the Italian neorealism movement gave the world a new perspective to contrast Hollywood at the time. From the year 1945 to around 1950 the Italian neorealism movement was declaring to the world how a meaningful motion picture does not have to accept the rules Hollywood lives by. The films of the movement are most often defined by the narratives and the lack of resources used in production. Furthermore they frequently featured nonprofessional actors and location shooting while the story reflected the lives of ordinary working class of the time. Examples of this can be found in important films of the movement, such as Roberto Rossellini’s

Rome, Open City by Roberto Rossellini is a prime example of the filmic and pro-filmic codes and conventions in action, as it is the first film of the movement and ultimately defined neorealism. It explores the Nazi occupation of Rome towards the end of the war and follows three main characters, Giorgio Manfredi a leader of the resistance, Pina a pregnant widow engaged to be married and catholic priest Don Pietro Pelligrini who shelters the other two from the Nazis, but there is no happy ending to be found with the conclusion of the film. Not only did the realism of the film shock audiences, but it demonstrated methods unseen in professional cinema for other filmmakers around the world to follow the example of. When production of the motion picture started “The war in the rest of Italy was still on. There was no film stock, and so Rossellini and his team had to use abandoned scraps found here and there.” (Bignardi, 2010). In combination with that, the film was shot mostly outside, using no sets or professional lighting and because of the poor quality of the equipment used, all audio was dubbed over in a studio (Sandhu, 2009). Furthermore many actors seen in the film (not including the main protagonists) had been employed off of the streets and possessed no acting experience. From this, neorealism became known for low budget films that defied the conventions of cinema and expressed the realist perspective that was the heart and soul of the movement, no other film expressed this better than Vitorria de Sica’s masterpiece Bicycle