Posts
written by Sanaa El Alaoui
Satisfactory to its name, Neorealism
embodies the pure means of cinema in capturing 'wonderfulness' in
mundane and insignificant events with almost self-organic situations. The
Bicycle Thief is a great example of such a movement where De Sica responds to the
post-war life of Italy to capture ‘ the history-from-below’ in a realistic
manner to chronicle the hardship of wartime.
Throughout the film, objective reality
is self-evident by the employment of non-professional actors, mundane language,
interference of casual events instead of causal ones, real locations, unhappy
ending etc.. Relatively, the power of this films lies in unifying the audience’s
feelings with the characters thanks to the ‘faithful to the character’
preference of De Sica. According to De
Sica, faithfulness to the characters can only be achieved by ordinary people to
portray 'ordinary people'.
For this
reason, as viewers, we feel that we are no longer faced to the typical glamour
– fantasy style of Hollywood narratives (which I believe does not give me
enough access to the depth of the character as opposed to the realistic cinema
where natural performance engage us fully). The totality of reality is
what distinguishes this film as a unique work where subject matter and form are
aesthetically merged. This creates a poetic energy that enables the viewers to
mirror the surroundings of the characters on their feelings (everything is
interrelated: streets, people, setting...).
For this
reason, certain technical elements are employed to reinforce this expression
such as deep focus where all elements from foreground to background are equally
and clearly observed as if De Sica provides a constant reminder of the social
conditions (everything and everyone is equally important). Not only this but
also lighting is poetic, for instance, most of the outdoor scenes are used with
high-key lighting to stress on the spacious city, the mass and Antonio’s quest
to find the bike in this large area.Whereas low-key lighting is used inside
(sometimes) to reflect on his sadness and desperation. Another distinctive
feature is that, as opposed to Hollywood films, the character is emphasized and the plot is driven organically.
Additionally, the film provides freedom of
interpretation for the viewers because they are exposed to long takes, shots
and deep focus that allow for multiplicity in details, hence, the viewer is not
forced to understand specific meanings but they can freely interpret the
meanings from these shots and connect elements with each other (example, Rita
Hayworth ad., the mass, the ladder and availability of multiple bicycles
whereas Antonio needs only one to survive). To sum up, the uniqueness and
paradox of this film are mirrored in achieving poetic elements with
maintaining pure realistic roots of cinema (cinema verite).
