Author: Little Uncle, a beginner of European cinema.
In the history of film, there is seldom a moment like the neorealism in Italy after World War II, which caused a fierce debate in their era and later generations (Shiel, 2006, p.1), such as The Earth Trembles (Visconti, 1948), Bitter Rice (De Santis, 1949) and Shoeshine (DeSica, 1946). Except for these films, Bicycle Thieves (De Sica, 1948) was a classical film in neorealism as well. It provides many typical aspects about neorealism in Italy.
For the aspects of acting, the neorealist films preferred using non-professional actors. In Bicycle Thieves, the main actor --- father, is played by a non-professional actor (Shiel, 2006, p.2). Atthat time, neorealist filmmakers refused to be bound by traditional acting and acting methods, they tried to use non-professional actors (Shiel, 2006, p.12).
This way of choosing actors had some positive points to the neorealism at that time. After a fierce war, frugality was a characteristic of the whole society:many Italians lived with the cruel reality of hunger, poverty, displacement and unemployment. It made film making full of a special sense of moral urgency(Shiel, 2006, p.10). So, at that period, film-makers of neorealism believed that telling fables was not the real function of films... The film had to tell the reality like telling a story; there should not have gaps between life and what is shown on the screen (Zavattini, as cited in Tomasulo, 1982, p.4). So,they chose non-professional actors, it will not betray the essence of things,and allow them to exist for their own interests (Bazin, as cited in Mast, Cohen & Braudy, 1992, p.42). It can help the film more real. According to Shiel(2006, p.13), neorealist films often lack the power of narrative, and lack the firm heroic characters which in classical films. The protagonists of neorealism were often be oppressed hopelessly or in the deep troubles, and they were often the victims of chance or fate, which gave evidence to the fragility and contingency of people's life after war. With the act by non-professional actors, the real situation, feelings and emotions can be shown more truly.
Neorealist film also focused on showing the injustice in the society, and showed their
sympathy to ordinary and small people, and appealed social unity of the working
masses. In Bicycle Thieves, the main characters were not callous (Mast, Cohen & Braudy, 1992, p. 43). In the film, all of characters, from father, to his friends, to seller of the bicycles, no one was completely bad. Most people lived a poor and difficult lives, the lives were so hard that sometimes they have to go to ask for divination to get some spiritual comfort to support themselves to continue to live. It made audiences so difficult to judge or hate anyone because audiences can understand their situations. However, the films just mentioned these problems rather than gave the solutions as well, as Tomasulo(1982, p.4) said that these contradictions have been shown, but they have not been solved. Therefore, the angle of struggle has not been mentioned. So, this sense of understanding but powerlessness will make audiences became more heartbreaking and sighing.
Except actors, neorealist films preferred shot in a natural environment, and this feature showed in Bicycle Thieves as well. According to Shiel (2006, p.10), one of the most important and influential innovation fields of neorealism was that it transfers film production from limited studios to vast rural and urban space because the camera can fully contact with the real world and social reality there. However, at that time, this was not the only reason about why they choose to shot outside. On the one hand, part of their studios was destroyed or occupied by refugees; on the other hand, they wanted to use the most convincing methods and as rigorous as the documentary to show the desire of life(Lattuada, 1959, as cited in Shiel, 2006, p.10).
In Bicycle Thieves, the most scenes were shot outside. For example, when that father and his son was finding the bicycle, the film used a variety of scenes to show this process. They walked on many different ways, they met different outside markets, and they came into church and restaurant. All of them were shot outside. These scenes showed people's real life and the way they get along with each other, even researchers can analyze the real social environment through it, such as the differences between poor and rich people in the restaurant, what did the market at that time look like, and what was the interior decoration of poor people’s house. With these advantages, according to Shiel (2006, p.11), “location filming remained the preference of neorealist directors through the mid-1950s and beyond.” Furthermore, they believed that a film should be shot at where it is supposed to be to achieve the aim about authenticity. Therefore, the neorealist film stands out with its interest in the visualization of ordinary events and environment in Italian life (Shiel,2006, p.12).
Besides, except outside shooting can help to show the real life, it also can help to reduce the cost (Shiel, 2006, p.11). Without a clear source of funding, the first neorealist films were pre-guaranteed by producers with low budgets and minimal production funds.
In summary, Bicycle Thieves is a typical neorealist film, it showed the classical aspects about acting and shooting methods of neorealism. These aspects helped to show the history and real situation of Italy at that time. From these points, audiences and researchers are easy to begin their study about that period.
Reference list:
De Sica, V. (1948).BicycleThieves. Italy: Produzioni De Sica.
Mast, G., Cohen, M.&Braudy, L. (1992),Film Theory and Criticism, Introductory Readings,NewYork Oxford: Oxford University Press
Shiel, M.(2006). ITALIAN NEOREALISM REBUILDING THE CINEMATIC CITY, New York Chichester,West Sussex: Columbia University Press
Tomasulo, F.P. (1982),"Bicycle Thieves": A Re-Reading, Cinema Journal, 21(2), pp.2-13