The theory of neo-realism was formed in part from assumptions and conjecture regarding the nature of cinema and its function in society; and in part from the early productions of the movement. But the theory and practice rarely coincided in one film and many of them could only be classified as neorealist in the topical sense. Some of the more astute Italian critics would decry the use of neorealist mannerisms to disguise purely commercial ventures that were commonly exploitative sexual melodramas and the contrivance of material that cried out for a different treatment into a neorealist style. Even the genre's maestro Roberto Rossellini would prove quite the rules-breaker when he would enlist established actors under the aegis of neorealism.
Cesare Zavattini (1902-1989), proponent of Neorealism and screenwriter of Vittorio De Sica's major films formulated the theory of neorealism - that it was cinema's task to no longer simply entertain in the usual connotation of the term, but to confront audiences with their own sense of reality, to analyze such and to unite audiences through a shared confrontation with reality. The one thing that disheartened the neorealist film makers was that their ultimate goal was never fully achieved, chiefly due to the indifference of Italian audiences and their hostility to this type of film, preferring instead to go to the cinemas for pure escapism. They had very little if any desire to confront on the screen the despondent reality of their day to day lives.
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| Umbeto D, straight from Zavattini's quill and the posterchild of Neorealism. |
If cinema was to present things as they 'actually are' it would mean that fiction, particularly that which derived from plays and novels; would now have no choice but be replaced by looser and seemingly open-ended narratives based on real experiences familiar to the filmmakers, resulting in limitations to that of the Ostrich effect. Zavattini once cited the example of a woman purchasing shoes to show how simple such narratives could be and how social issues - poverty, unemployment, poor housing , all could be illustrated within the confines of a fiction film.
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| 1948's Bicycle Thieves |
Although most of the problems depicted in the neorealist films were susceptible to political resolve the neorealists themselves never presented a clear political programme. Their party affiliations were diverse, a number of writers and directors were indeed Marxists but a good many were also Christian Democrats and held various other ideologies.
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| But the kids aren't alright . A few displaced lads in Shoeshine (1946) |
Zavattini was emphatic that there was something intrinsic between the cinema and reality despite the fact that a camera will record whatever is in front of its lens and the processed film will hopefully convince a spectator of the reality of what he is seeing. But it was never quite as clear-cut as Zavattini expressed but for him personally, the entire question remained ambiguous that cinematic realism was merely a convention, and that the neorealist method was but one approach to cinema.