A brief analysis of the creative characteristics of Italian neorealism

The Resistance Movement and the Italian Liberation provided the first major themes for Italian neorealist film creation. Because, for the Italians, liberation "does not mean the restoration of the freedom of the recent past, but means political revolution, Allied occupation, economic and social turmoil. In addition, the process of liberation is slow, going through endless years." It profoundly affected Italy's economy, social life and moral outlook." At the same time, it will inevitably affect literary and artistic creation. The creation of Italian cinema, as we have said before, is the most responsive of all the arts. Therefore, the aesthetic value of neorealism is first reflected in their subject matter and content. "Encyclopedia Britannica Film Art Section" has also made a detailed analysis of this point and proposed the neorealist film movement, which mainly expresses human beings' thinking on four basic issues of survival: 1. Opposition to war, and against the deadly political chaos that invaded their country; 2. against hunger; 3. against the plight caused by poverty and unemployment; 4. against the disintegration and degradation of the family. Since neorealism is about the expression of such content and thinking about various issues, it also determines the style and form of its films. This creates a sharp contrast between neorealist films and the Hollywood films that dominate the world's screens: neorealism emphasizes poverty rather than the glamor of Hollywood films; emphasizes ugly slums rather than clean and stylish apartments; emphasizes the representation of ordinary people , a worldly and disrespectful person, rather than an ideal, perfect gentleman, etc. Neorealism thus emphasizes the unjust social structure and the basic human relationships distorted by that society. Neorealism endowed the film with profound practical significance, and at the same time, while competing with the Hollywood film market, it won over people with aesthetic ability and moral cultivation in that period, as well as a wider audience with an artistic film. their interest.

The formal characteristics of Italian neorealism:

1. Documentation

Neorealist film artists pay close attention to reality and use it in films The faithful reproduction of real events and characters in the work makes the literary storytelling disappear into the narrative state of real life like news reports. "The Bicycle Thieves" and "Rome Eleven" are the most prominent examples of this. Because of the participation of journalists in the narrative, "Rome Eleven" is more like a report by journalists.

The cameras of Italian filmmakers are also like "the humanity of the newsreel camera, which is inseparable from the hands and eyes, almost identical to the human body, and always cooperates with the photographer's attention." Objectively, try not to erode the full picture of the original material, and merge the appearance of screen reality and the real reality into one in the minds of the audience

Bazin said that the documentary nature of neorealist films has extremely special aesthetic value.

2. Live shooting

This is part of the "documentary" aspect of neorealism. Such a shooting method closely visually combines the real social environment with the fate of the characters. The slogan of neorealist filmmakers is: move the camera to the streets and alleys and shoot in real space. In this, the camera follows the movement of the characters in the actual space, which is a breakthrough in the concept of space in the film. It naturally makes the traditional concept of scene scheduling disappear, and makes a more cinematic real space. Form is expressed. At the same time, real-life shooting also avoids dramatic lighting that is part of the stage concept. Italian neorealist photographers fl.] used more natural light.

3. The use of long lenses

In representative works of neorealism, the use of long lenses, as a means of expressing the reality of space, plays a unique role in highlighting the form and style of the film. . This kind of visual processing that is not divided into pieces seems to make every shot a complete segment. This not only reflects the creator's objectivity that is true to nature, but also enables the film to gain the transparency of reality, ultimately eliminating self-subjectivity. Bazin once proposed. : "The characteristic of film, in its pure state for the time being, lies solely in the strict adherence to the unity of space in photography." In this sense, neorealism’s use of long shots is in line with Bazin’s definition of space in terms of space concept and is in line with the characteristics of film.

4. Regarding the use of non-professional actors

In many representative works of neorealism, the performances of non-professional actors are indeed used. However, Bazin pointed out in his in-depth analysis that the use of non-professional actors is not a contribution of neorealism. As early as "Battleship Potemkin", extras replaced big stars. At the same time, Bazin also said: "From the perspective of film history, the practice of not using professional actors cannot explain the characteristics of social realist films, nor the characteristics of contemporary Italian genres; the negation of the star principle, the use of professional actors and actresses without distinction Extras, this is really their characteristic. The important thing here is to avoid the stereotype of the role of the professional actor: his relationship with the character should not create preconceived notions for the audience.” Neorealism mixes professional actors and non-professional actors, allowing the actors to influence and penetrate each other. This result "will inevitably achieve the wonderful authenticity of Italian movies."

5. Structural form

Lawson once said: "Because the basic concept of neorealism is simple, the structure of the best neorealist films is also simple and simple. Touching”. Neorealist filmmakers pursue an unpretentious structural form. They do not use flashbacks, flashbacks, etc., and other puzzling structural forms, but choose the simplest, most vivid, and most intuitive structural form, and the result is also the clearest, most natural, and most fulfilling one. structural form. This is also determined by the documentary style of the film, just as Zavattini advocated: neorealist films must generate structure from the material itself.

6. The use of local dialects

This cannot be heard in the videos we have translated. But this is part of New Realism's pursuit of record and realism, which was influenced by Eduardo de Philippe's dialect drama and Verga. At the same time, it is also an extremely prominent means for national films to pursue sound effects. When dealing with this kind of dialect, neorealist producers pay great attention to proportion. They not only maintain the characteristics of the local dialect, but also make it as understandable as possible.