Italian Neorealism Films from "The Bicycle Thief"

Bicycle Thieves

The origin of Italian neorealism is closely related to the social reality of Italy after World War II. Post-war Italy collapsed in every way, and the people suffered great material and spiritual damage. Many social problems, such as: unemployment, poverty, crime, etc., have followed. Italian film workers hated the harm that fascism had done to the country and the nation, and felt the grim situation of the real society, so they shot a number of films with the significance of social progress. These films abandon the high-pitched high-pitched feelings inspired by lofty feelings, clear the naive and formulaic old-fashioned tunes, and focus on opposing the fascist war and reflecting the harm caused by the war to the people, and reproduce real life in a simple and sincere style.

In 1948, written by Zavatini, de. The Bicycle Thief directed by Sika is the most typical and prominent representative work of neorealism. The film depicts Anton Rich, an unemployed worker, who finally got a job posting street advertisements, but this job must have a bicycle. It was a bad start. His bicycle was stolen as soon as he hit the street. He searched everywhere, but couldn't find it. In the end, for the sake of the family's life, he was forced to act in his own way and planned to steal the car. As a result, the car was not stolen, but he was accused of being a car thief. He was caught on the spot and returned home in disgrace. Through the process of Richie losing his job, getting a job, losing his car, looking for a car, and stealing a car, the film shows the unemployment problem of the lower class in Italy, and profoundly reflects the social reality of Italy. As a masterpiece of Neorealism, The Bicycle Stealer reflects the important aesthetic principles of Neorealism in the choice of subject matter, that is, the tendency of populism and simplicity. An extremely common life trivia, such as losing a car, was placed in the social background of the time, and it became a reflection of the post-war era and national tragedy, and thus had the height of epic. The film we see seems to be no different from the flow of life itself, starting from the loss of the car, through the form of looking around throughout the whole film, the camera walks the streets of Rome with the helpless Richie, and we too. Then I saw the dilapidated second-hand market in the city of Rome, the prosperous female photographer, the church giving out lunch, the corrupt brothel... These real life scenes show the symbiotic relationship between man and the environment, which is powerful It perfectly sets off the living environment of the characters, and shows the authenticity of the fate and environment of the protagonist to the greatest extent, thus revealing a very sad and cruel theme - "the poor may also go and steal because of life's compulsion." At the same time, these constantly flowing life scenes also constitute the background of the film's plot, rendering a gloomy, gloomy and depressing main mood. In these numerous, unrelated, accidental, but always loosely linked little things in the clockwise direction of life. In the episode, we see a panorama of the ruined life of the entire city of Rome after the devastation of war. and overview, Also felt the tragic fate and bitter tears of countless Richie-like little people. This way of expressing "what we think is worth expressing, according to their daily state (or "everyday") as fully and truly as possible", should be said to be the innovation of Italian neorealism to break the traditional film model. one. We know that the traditional narrative mode often uses the causal relationship of succession and transformation to connect events, and the general formula is: undisturbed state - interference intervention - effort to eliminate interference - interference elimination; and from the plot, war and The two clues of love are intertwined, related to each other, and cause and effect to each other. And neorealist films directly care about various social phenomena, not only such things as Richie's bicycle being stolen and then he steals other people's bicycles, even trivial things like "a woman going to buy a pair of shoes" can be created Make a video. 'All we have to do is unearth all the elements of this experience and represent them in their mundane 'everydayness'. In this way, the experience can become a noteworthy, even astonishing' experience. But it's amazing not because it's special, but because it's ordinary. "Neorealism constitutes a film in accordance with the actual flow of life, even the accumulation of seemingly random and disorderly events, completely breaking the linear causal relationship and the presumption of plot in traditional films, and cutting off the identity that creates screen illusions. Psychological clues, as far as possible to replace the drama with the "everyday" of life. It can be said that "everyday" is the basic principle of the new realism movie when structuring the plot. Cut off the psychological clues that create the hallucinations of the screen, and replace the drama with the "everyday" of life as much as possible. It can be said that "everyday" is the basic principle in the structure of the plot of neorealist films. Cut off the psychological clues that create the hallucinations of the screen, and replace the drama with the "everyday" of life as much as possible. It can be said that "everyday" is the basic principle in the structure of the plot of neorealist films.

From 1945 to 1950 Neorealism reached its peak. "Give me back the common man" was the first slogan of Neorealism against the false and pompous atmosphere of the Italian screen of the past. They concentrated on depicting the actual conditions of life and struggle of ordinary workers, peasants, petty citizens and urban intellectuals. "The Bicycle Thief" protagonist Richie and the surrounding characters and even the harmful thief are ordinary urban lower-class civilians who are running around for food and clothing all day, and these little people who appear in the film are also made by reality Little people in life—played by non-professional actors. Yet their performances are so fresh and natural, so relaxed and confident in front of the camera. It makes us have to think that they are not so much "acting" as they are unfolding the most real picture of their own life. At this point, Zavatini, a well-known screenwriter of neorealist films, believed that art must represent real people, not fictional ones. "I hate heroes who are somewhat hypothetical - audiences should be told today that they themselves are the real protagonists of life. People will often get used to identifying themselves with fictional characters, and that will be dangerous. We must Recognize our true face." Therefore, neorealist films are all about the ordinary life of ordinary people. As an Italian film theorist put it, neorealism is "a national language that does not try to find a new path through film, but only to directly and explicitly reveal the reality of the time." In a sense, neorealism is not only a choice of aesthetic style, but also a moral choice under the constraints of reality.

Neorealism also put forward a resounding slogan - "carry the camera to the street." The proposal of this slogan not only reflects the changes in the shooting scenes of neorealism films, but also determines the new realism in a certain extent. Some important features of film language and style, such as live-action shooting, natural lighting, more stable lens language, plain shooting angles, etc. Before that, film production was almost completely industrialized, especially in Hollywood, where almost all interior scenes were built with standardized components in factories, and very few exterior scenes, if any, were mostly fake. However, neorealist filmmakers objectively and faithfully restore the integrity of the natural environment and the process of time, which frees the film from the increasingly rigid and solidified dramatic space, and obtains a more cinematic real space. In Bicycle Thief, there is absolutely no Eisenstein-esque "shock editing" and dramatic editing techniques like montage structures, Desica just lets the camera patiently record what seems to be life itself unfolding , He alternates between fixed camera shots, slow-moving shots, and slow panning shots, making the production skills almost invisible to the audience. Maybe this is De. Sika's style, he is to direct people's attention to the subject rather than to the style itself, which is an "art of hidden art". The whole film seems to be just an objective record of real life, and the camera seems to follow Anton closely. Ricci walked the streets of Rome, staying behind them, "stalking" them, eagerly following these little people. At this time, the concepts of what cinema, what director, what photography, what screen, and even what actors have all disappeared, and the audience's only feeling and thinking is: what needs to be done to make this society a truly human society. this kind of politics. The democracy and aesthetic authenticity of the film have greatly promoted the film art to get rid of the Hollywood-style aesthetic false model, and opened up the way for the film art to move towards true filmization.

Of course, as a representative work of neo-realism, the biggest charm of "The Bicycle Thief" is not forgetting to focus on the fate of the characters, in addition to maintaining the realistic aesthetic style of the shorthand function of life. The film specifically and subtly shows a series of emotional changes in Richie's emotions when he got a job, lost his car and was humiliated. At the same time, in order to render the human touch of the film, the director also set up the image of a lovely son Bruno, through a series of plots of Ricci's treatment of Bruno, to further enrich the character and deepen the theme of the work. For example, at the Victoria Market, Rich encouraged his son to "kiss" him if he found a car; then when he was sheltering from the rain at Baotaimen, Richie wiped his son's face again, full of fatherly love; After chasing the beggar, Richie scolded his son again, reflecting a kind of anxiety; in the end, when Richie was cornered, he was forced to steal someone else's bicycle but was caught on the spot. At this moment, his son Bruno was by his side. , Witnessing his revered father to do disrespectful things and being insulted by others, Richie lost not only the bicycle, but also his self-esteem as a person and his father's dignity, and all this was very important to Bruno's young The shock caused by the soul is unparalleled by any hero in a classic tragedy. Even so, the film is by no means pessimistic and depressing to make people feel hopeless and tender: the warm family life, the mutual help among friends, the kindness of the car owner, especially the face-to-face at the end of the film. Silently contains the father who is very sad in his life , the son stretches his hand to his father understandingly, the father sheds tears, the father and son walk hand in hand through the twilight and disappear into the crowd... Is it over? The movie is over, but life is not over, the Anton Ritchie family is still In the run for the bike, the other people and things involved in the film continue. Here, the end of the closed reunion is completely abandoned, and the film seems to be a small fragment taken at random in the vast life of the Italian poor. Before and after this, the flow of life has never been interrupted. Neorealist filmmakers refuse to give answers to the audience and to point out the fate of the protagonist of the film, because they believe that life is an uninterrupted process, and the contradiction between real life and life cannot be abruptly ended with the end of the film end. Reluctantly to point out the way out, it is only a superficial treatment of the problem with a greater artificiality, which is contrary to the creative principles of neorealism and justice. It can be seen from this that the pursuit of "truth" is the enemy of all "false", It should be regarded as the biggest feature of neorealism creation to make the film fully expand the horizon and space in the process of moving towards people's life. When we see Richie and Bruno father and son holding hands and disappearing in the crowd through close-up shots, this silent understanding and forgiveness makes people feel moving family affection and solid life hope. It is in this meticulous portrayal of human nature that the film detaches itself from the trivial matters of daily life and rises to a higher and meaningful artistic level.

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