The Many Faces of

Neorelism
Neorealism does not have a fixed formula or a manifesto. Neorealism is the result of the
work of some directors who shared, for a certain period, the same interests.

Main features Roberto Rossellini

• Original plot • Roma città aperta (Open City, 1945)
• Portray of common people and daily • Paisà (Paisan, 1946)
reality • Germania anno zero (Germany Year Zero, 1947)
• Portray of post-war Italian society
• Political and civic commitment Vittorio De Sica
• Real locations • Sciuscià (Shoeshine, 1946)
• Nonprofessional actors • Ladri di biciclette (The Bicycle Thief, 1948)
• Use of dialects • Umberto D. (Umberto D., 1952)
• Documentary style
• Gaze of children for judging society Luchino Visconti
• La terra trema (The Earth Trembles, 1948)
 New ingredients in neorealistic films
Some neorealist films showed a gradual move closer to conventional American films.
Films still dealt with social problems, but they started to employ new ingredients:
• Genres
• Fantastic elements

Crisis or betray of neorealism?

No. The aim is to provide

consolation, beauty and the hope that
films’ images and ideas may move the
spectator to social action that might
change the world

Miracle in Milan
Directed by Vittorio De Sica, 1951
 Beyond Neorealism

ü Political pressure (from home and abroad)

ü Competition of successful foreign (US) films

…these factors pushed to move Italian films away from denouncing social
problems and towards more popular plots

Huge success of:

• Melodrama
• Popular comedies (Totò)
• «Rosy» Neorealism (Bread, Love and Fantasy, 1953; Poor but Beautiful, 1957)

Comedies and films of “rosy neorealism” approached poverty and social problems with
a smile, and without the intention to change the status quo. They portray a certain
optimism towards future.
Melodrama films are a subgenre of drama films characterised by a plot that appeals to the
heightened emotions of the audience. They generally depend on stereotyped character
development, interaction, and highly emotional themes. Melodramatic films tend to use
plots that often deal with crises of human emotion, failed romance or friendship, strained
familial situations, tragedy, illness, neuroses, or emotional and physical hardship. Victims,
couples, virtuous and heroic characters or suffering protagonists (usually heroines) in
melodramas are presented with tremendous social pressures, threats, repression, fears,
improbable events or difficulties with friends, community, work, lovers, or family. The
melodramatic format allows the character to work through their difficulties or surmount the
problems with resolute endurance, sacrificial acts, and steadfast bravery.
Riso amaro

By Giuseppe De Santis
1949
Giuseppe De Santis
ü He wrote film reviews for “Cinema”
ü He attended classes at the Centro
Sperimentale di Cinematografia
ü He was assistant-director for Visconti
and Rossellini
ü He worked as screenwriter (Ossessione)
ü His first film (Caccia tragica/Tragic Hunt,
1947) completely fits with the tradition
of Neorealism
ü He directed 11 feature films: Bitter Rice is
the most famous one

Bitter Rice
ü High-budget film
ü 75 days of shooting on location
ü Many stars, technicians and non-professional
extras involved
ü Box-office success (especially abroad: France
and United States)
 Bitter Rice
Giuseppe De Santis had two aims:

1) To provide a realistic study of the mondine, whose economic conditions force them to
work under miserable conditions for only a sack of rice and 4000 lire.
 Bitter Rice
De Santis’ aims:
2) To condemn the corruptive influences he
perceived from the American popular
culture upon Italian working class values

Silvana aims to become rich and to move in

North America (in North America «everything
is electric») She chews gum, dances boogie-
woogie, reads pulp magazines, wins a beauty
queen contests, etc.

Marco, symbol of proletarian solidarity and

Italian common sense, tells her that «everything
is electric in America, even the electric chair».
Marco dreams of going in South America.
At the same time…

The film is influenced by Hollywood cinema, in particular by Hollywood film genres

(gangster movies, musicals) and stars (Joan Crawford, Rita Hayword). Bitter Rice is both a
celebration of the Hollywood style and a condemnation of the US culture.
Bitter Rice and Neorealism

ü Original plot
ü Real locations
ü Socio-economic problems of the Italian society after the Second World War
ü Children (pregnant women)
ü Dialect

X Unprofessional actors/actresses
X Documentary style
Bitter Rice vs. The Bicycle Thief and other traditional films of Neorealism

• In Bitter Rice, solidarity among human beings is possible (see female-workers). After
her suicide, Silvana is reintegrated into the community
• In Bitter Rice there is combination of neorealism and Hollywood (Hollywood
storytelling, actors/actresses, etc. were rejected in De Sica’s film)
• Bitter Rice has amore complex and entertaining plot
• Bitter Rice informs about the psychological profiles of its main characters