Italian neorealism in Open City & The Bicycle Thief
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Italian neorealism developed as a particular form of cinematic expression during the period when Italy was ruled by the Fascists. One of the best-known of what would be called the neo-realist approach to film was Roberto Rossellini's Open City (1945), and many of the characteristics of the movement were evident in this film. These films had an anti-establishment, revolutionary attitude. They had an extemporaneous, documentary quality enhanced in the early era by the materials from which they were made--war-time film stock, cobbled-together equipment, non-professional actors, and location shooting. Open City is a good example of this early period in neorealism, while Vittorio De Sica's The Bicycle Thief (1948) is an expression of the fully developed tradition from the period after the expulsion of the fascists and after the end of World War II. Luchino Visconti's Ossessione (Ossessione) is another example of how the style was used, this one produced during the war. These three films display a challenge to the establishment of the time and a social consciousness that delves into the reality rather than the image of the nation. For this reason, neorealism encountered hostility from the established forces because these films portrayed Italy in a realistic and critical way that was not the sort of image the establishment wanted for the country, particularly to be presented to the outside world. Bondanella sees the development of neorealism as a high point in the history o
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ide force, by the war and by the occupying force. The people have put their usual lives in abeyance. They are living now defined by ideology, by nationality, and by their social roles to a degree that would not normally pertain. For the Nazis, the situation brings out their evil, as seen in the actions of Bergmann and his assistant Ingrid. They are warped in their official behaviors, warped in their hatred of Italians, warped in their sexual relations, and always expressing these things in a milieu that is not their own. They are German, after all, and are enclosed in a city far from their homeland. Rome may be an open city in that it is not a military target, but it is occupied by the military and treated as a military enclave, ruled by military law and an occupying army.
Vittorio De Sica directed The Bicycle Thief in 1948, and though this was after the war and after the expulsion of the Fascists, the film is infused with De Sica's bitterness that few things had changed in society . Though the film is clearly critical of the social conditions of the time and challenged the authorities as a consequence, it is much more than a social document or tract. De Sica sees the problem in the psychology of the people as much as in
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2083
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)
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