Bicycle Thieves Italian Neorealism
Neorealism was an influential and significant movement in film history which took place in italy at the ending of world war ii.
Bicycle thieves italian neorealism. This change in society brought about characteristics and principles which became noticeable in cinema during this time period. The way he moved the way he sat down his gestures with those hands of a working man and not of an actor everything about him was perfect. Cinematography in the bicycle thieves plays a major role in capturing the neo realist style. The cinema seems to have been invented to express the life of the subconscious the roots of which penetrate poetry so deeply.
For the adult star of bicycle thieves de sica chose a factory worker lamberto maggiorani. Bicycle thieves is one of the examples of italian neorealism cinema. This classic italian neorealist movie was directed by vittorio de sica and is one of the. This movie portrays the hardships of a normal working class man named ricci to find his stolen bicycle.
By naming the brand name of the films bicycle fides which in italian means faith and having it stolen he is explaining that the faith of the. A masterwork from one of canada s most important poets referencing the post war neorealist film by vittorio de sica mary di michele s bicycle thieves commemorates her italian past and her life in canada through elegy and acts of translation of text and of self. Neorealistic films like the bicycle thief dealt with the accurate social political and economic situation italians were facing at the time as well as the realistic treatment of their citizens. The collection opens with a kind of hymn to life on the planet sung from the peak of that urban island montreal an attempt.
Bicycle thieves is the best known work of italian neorealism the movement that formally began with roberto rossellini s rome open city 1945 and aimed to give cinema a new degree of realism. De sica had just made shoeshine 1946 but was unable to get financial backing from any major studio for the film so he raised the money himself from friends. Yet it is almost never used to do this. Hollywood funding had been available for the film if de sica had agreed to cast cary grant in the lead thankfully he refused.
These principles not only molded the film bicycle thieves but were used to bring. It s bicycle thieves ladri di biciclette in italian not only because more than one bike is stolen but also because the cruelty of modern life threatens to make robbers of us all. Italy moved from fascism and dictatorship whereby much was revolved around a single party state seen in world war i to an equal and democratic society. Another major feature of neorealism is the use of nonprofessionals even in leading roles.
Neo realism a naturalistic style in both literature and film that emerged in the 1940s and was very dominant in the italian arts neo realism strived to capture the world as it was then and the style is still in use today by film makers so by no means is it an outdated technique of cinema. Wanting to portray the poverty and. History of film 1979 cesare zavattini 1902 1989 was an italian scriptwriter and film theorist who collaborated with de sica on the bicycle thief and other films 3. In this video we talk about why cinephiles must see bicycle thieves.