. Andre Bazin & Italian Neorealism
.
Andre Bazin &
Italian Neorealism
.
Siefried Kracauer (1889-1966)
CINEMATIC REALISM : Philosophy
Critic of “modernity” (Frankfurt School)
Human condition characterized by alienation
Mass culture/society manipulates individuals
Materialistic values have replaced religion, metaphysical, romantic convictions, resulting in disenchantment
People live distracted lives
Film as a “redemptive” experience that can show man damaged condition of modernity and help him transcend materialism
.
Siefried Kracauer (1889-1966)
CINEMATIC REALISM
Foreshadowed and predicted dehumanizing power of mass media
“Mass ornaments”--film, military parades and sporting events
“Real” world of the individual desubstantiated by spectacle and empty rituals
Film must “reengage” individual with nature and the Kantian real world
.
Andre Bazin (1918-1958)
Views cinema as a “redemptive” art
The role of cinema is to help man in his search for truth and understanding in an ambiguous and uncertain world
Man can transcend alienation and modernity
Film can be a religious experience
“Love” and “state of grace”
.
Andre Bazin (1918-1958)
Bergson’s concept of “creative evolution”
Close experiential scrutiny reveals deep structures/meanings behind phenomena
Under scrutiny of inquiry [artistic analysis]these deep structures are brought into the light
Cinema and photography are media that an artist can utilize to review the deeper meanings behind the phenomena of existence
.
Andre Bazin (1918-1958)
We know that under the image revealed there is another which is truer to reality and under this image still another and yet again still another under this last one, right down to the true image of reality, absolute, mysterious, which no one will ever see.
.
Andre Bazin (1918-1958)
Film image “embalms” time & wrenches phenomena from the flux of life
Symbolic power of cinematic imagery combined with empirical density of cinematic realism
The spirit behind the “real” object
The “long hard gaze”
Disliked over-expressive, over-ornamental, or overuse of montage
.
Andre Bazin (1918-1958)
“Montage...chops the world up into little fragments, and disturbs the natural unity in people and things.”
.
Andre Bazin (1918-1958)
“German expressionism did violence to the image by ways of sets and lighting.”
.
Andre Bazin (1918-1958)
Liked films that focused on everyday psychological experience
Italian neorealism (The Bicyle Thief)
Disliked modernist, expressionistic
Disliked films that imposed a political ideology on the viewer
Long takes, of surrounding environment
Impact of environment on people(French determinism)
.
Andre Bazin (1918-1958)
Francois Truffaut
Erich von Stroheim
Roberto Rossellini
Vittorio De Sica
Robert Bresson
Jean Renoir
Orson Welles
William Wyler
.
Andre Bazin (1918-1958)
Depth of focus
Respect for the continuity of dramatic space and the flow of time
Composition in depth
“Dramatic effects for which we had formerly relied on montage were created out of the movements of the actors within a fixed framework.”
Ambiguity of expression closer to reality; viewer must choose
.
Cinematic Realism & Marxism (1930-present)
Film as a reactionary medium
Expose the shallowness of modern capitalistic society
Real-life problems of the common man
Poverty, crime, social injustice common themes
Italian Neorealism
British Social Realism
.
Italian Neorealism (1940-50s)
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
1937-1945: Fascists controlled cinema(founded Cinecitta--largest studio in Europe)
Propaganda films
After WWII, Socialists and Communists in government tolerated Neorealism’s left-wing ideology (former resistance movement)
Economy in shambles
Cost of studio production, film, lighting, etc.became prohibitive
Reflected desire for social reform
.
Italian Neorealism (1940-50s)
Response to artificiality of cinema of the Fascist period
Influenced by French poetic realism and American literary naturalism (e.g., Hemingway)
Experiences of poor and socially marginalized
“Slice of life”; things and facts in time and place (versimo)
Ambivalence of everyday experience
Some took strong social political stance
Marxist, with a hopeful, humanistic dimension
.
Italian Neorealism (1940-50s)
CHARACTERISTICS
On-location shooting
Long takes
Natural light
Medium and long shots
Non-professional actors
Working class protagonists
Environment as important as actors
.
Italian Neorealism (1940-50s)
CESARE ZAVATTINI
Three basics tenets of neorealism
1. Portray real or everyday people, using nonprofessional actors in real settings
2. Examine socially significant themes
3. Promote the “organic” development ofsituations--the “real flow of life”--in which
complications are rarely resolved
.
Italian Neorealism (1940-50s)
CESARE ZAVATTINI
“Some Ideas on the Cinema” (1953)
1. Portray real or everyday people, using nonprofessional actors in real settings
2. Examine socially significant themes
3. Promote the “organic” development ofsituations--the “real flow of life”--in which
complications are rarely resolved
.
Italian Neorealism (1940-50s)
CESARE ZAVATTINI
“Identification with the common man in the crowd.”
“Take dialogue and actors from the street.”
“Reality in American films is unnaturally filtered.”
.
Italian Neorealism (1940-50s)
CESARE ZAVATTINI
“The world goes on getting worse because we are not truly aware of reality.”
The job of the director is to “observe reality, and not extract fictions from it.”
“The frequent habit of identifying oneself with fictional characters will become very dangerous.”
.
Italian Neorealism (1940-50s)
CESARE ZAVATTINI
“The world goes on getting worse because we are not truly aware of reality.”
The job of the director is to “observe reality, and not extract fictions from it.”
“The frequent habit of identifying oneself with fictional characters will become very dangerous.”
.
Italian Neorealism (1940-50s)
Criticized for negative depiction of Italy
Lack of positive heroes
Negative displays of human flesh
Catholic Church: “forbidden for believers”
.
Italian Neorealism (1940-50s)
Not the most popular cinema of the times in Italy
People didn’t want to be reminded of problems
Hollywood and “capitalist” system of filmmaking an overpowering force
BUT the movement did influence the French New Wave, Hollywood and TV
.
Italian Neorealism (1940-50s)
Roberto Rossellini
Luchino Visconti
Guisippe DeSantis
Giovanni Verga
Vittorio De Sica
Federico Fellini
Michelangelo Antonioni
Bernardo Bertolucci
Francesco Rosi