Neo Realism
Uploaded by rdorekens on May 15, 2007
Discuss the influence of either the Expressionist or Neo-Realist theory of cinematic representation on the development of film noir.
‘Realism in art can only be achieved in one way – through artifice” Andre Bazin
For polemical purposes Bazin establishes a kind of heroic line of realist film-makers, beginning from Stroheim, Murnau and Flaherty in the silent period, represented by Renoir in the 1930’s and culminating in the 1940’s with a (theoretical not actual) coalition of the Italian neo-realists and certain American film-makers whose use of specific techniques made them pre-eminently realist whether they were aware of it or not.
Their aesthetic is one which ‘integrates reality’ into the film; the realistic material (provided by reality) permits the artist to discover realistic ‘means of expression’. The Americans (principally Orson Welles and William Wyler, with the help and influence of the cameraman Gregg Toland, who worked with both of them) are realistic because they use deep-focus cinematography, a technical device which enables film-makers to show foreground, middle ground and background simultaneously in one shot with equal clarity, allowing the spectator to pick and choose from a wealth of stimuli.
In literature the term neo realism was already being mentioned in the early 1920’s. European realism/naturalism influenced American realism in literature and paved the way for this new style in cinematic language to make way in the troublesome era of post war period.
When during the Second World War, one part of the world was struggling to defeat the Germans, America was cheering its audiences in cinemas with lavish films, high style protagonists for entertainment produced with well oiled machinery and well sophisticated film studios. However the disaster and defeat the rest of Europe was experiencing couldn’t but be reflected in the films produced in the countries plagued by despair and hopelessness.
When Mussolini founded Cinecitta in 1937 in Italy the country was under the influence of Fascism and Hitler was preparing to invade Europe and increase his strength under the Nazi regime. Luchino Visconte Ossessione (1942) is based on James M. Cain’s “The Postman Always Rings Twice”. Several Italian intellectuals admitted that their encounter with American Literature has been one of the most significant and rewarding experiences. Strange as it may seem the violence and deep pessimism of Steinbeck, Cain, Hemingway, Faulkner and Caldwell (naturalist or realist writers), whose works were widely spread in Italy in the 30’s had actually given them the...