skeptical of the Catholic Church, antibureaucratic,
and socialist. But overall, because it does not have
an inherent political purpose, it is traditionally
regarded more as a style than an ideology.
Stylistically, its characteristics are specific.
Despite the lavish production facilities available at
the large studios that Mussolini built (or perhaps
because of them), the neorealists sought simplicity
in their working methods. They used actual loca-
tions rather than studio sites, nonprofessional
actors, a documentary visual style that included
shooting in the streets with natural light and light-
weight cameras, the use of long takes to preserve
real time, and the use of deep-space cinematogra-
phy to maintain the look of the actual spaces in
which shooting occurred. All of these characteris-
tics broke with the prevailing cinematic conven-
tions in Italy.
The most indispensable neorealist films are
Vittorio De Sica’s Shoeshine (1946), The Bicycle
Thieves(1948; also known as The Bicycle Thief), and
Umberto D. (1952), which marks the end of the
movement; Cesare Zavattini wrote the screenplays
for all of these. The Bicycle Thieves, the movement’s
masterpiece, which is set in Rome two years after
the end of the war, recounts three consecutive days
in the life of Antonio Ricci (Lamberto Maggiorani),
a laborer, Maria (Lianella Carell), his wife, and Bruno
(Enzo Staiola), his son, who looks about eight years
old but nonetheless works twelve hours a day at a
gas station. It is a simple but powerful story. Antonio
is out of work but, at the beginning of the movie, is
offered a job (hanging movie posters) on the condi-
tion that he has a bicycle. Because his bicycle is in
a pawnshop, his wife substitutes the family linen at
the pawnshop so that he can reclaim his bicycle
and take the job. On his first morning at work, the
bicycle is stolen. His friends help him search for it,
but they have no luck. When Antonio spots the
thief, the Mafia protects that man. Social forces such
as the church and fortunetellers cannot help him.
Faced with a practical dilemma, he too becomes a
bicycle thief (hence the movie’s title) and is caught
and publicly humiliated. It ends with Antonio in
exactly the same dilemma as the moment the film
began. This, then, is the story of a good man caught
in a seemingly hopeless world, told with insightful
observation and compassion. Its ending, true to the
neorealist credo, is ambiguous.
The stylistic characteristics of neorealism—the
long takes, the actual locations, the spare dialogue,
and so on—allow De Sica to show reality without
necessarily interpreting it. Nonetheless, he took
complete control over the setting, cinematography,
lighting, acting, and sound. Even though it is a sound
film, much of its power is its relative silence, partic-
ularly its lack of voices. Like many films made
before the coming of sound, it demonstrates the
intensity of silent acting. One definition of a “clas-
sic” movie is that it can mean different things to
different people at different times in their lives.456 CHAPTER 10FILM HISTORY
An early influence on neorealismLuchino Visconti’s
Ossessione(1943) represents a transition between the
lackluster Italian cinema of the pre–Second World War period
and the brief but significant flowering of neorealism. It
represents the older traditions in several ways: it uses
professional actors, is based on an American novel, and is
known mainly for its torrid love story. Soon after the two
lovers—Giovanna (Clara Calamai), an unhappily married
woman, and Gino (Massimo Girotti), a drifter—first meet,
they become obsessively involved with one another.
Ossessioneforeshadows neorealism in its depiction of the
daily routines of ordinary people, its focus on rural Italy, and
its consistent use of long shots to preserve real time and
emphasize how the setting constrains the characters from
becoming independent. Mostly, though, its austere realism, in
form and content, influenced the neorealist filmmakers. The
film was remade in the United States twice, both times as
The Postman Always Rings Twice(1946, director: Tay Garnett;
1981, director: Bob Rafelson).