Neorealist Film The Bicycle Thieves: Depiction Of Italian Society After The Second World War

Italian Cinematic and Literary World After the Second World War

The Second World War was a challenging period for every country. The war was indeed destructive and it was also the best judge to bring people out of the garb of aligning romantic ideas with warfare. People started to focus on the reality by noticing the destruction around. Various thinkers and writers of the time had mentioned the importance of focusing on the reality which can be painful, brutal but “real” ( Shore & Vivarelli, 2009).  The Bicycle Thieves is one such artistic piece which mirrors the construction of reality without covering it with aesthetic and artistic features. It is seen as a neorealist film which rejected the ideal patterns of naïve and mannered clichés which were used in Italian movies. It had also rejected the unrealistic fabrication which would filter the real problems of humans. The rise of neorealist films gave up fictional adaptations to focus on different realistic ideas of the world in history and portray its impact on humanity. The idea of Italian films was deemed as a typical inclination towards the sentiments of the nobles; this stereotypical idea was also challenged as the nonrealistic films started to emerge. With the help of neorealist film like The Bicycle Thief, the picture of Italy after the second world was will be explained and displayed. The film director Vittori De Sica has made a phenomenal contribution in the field of neorealist films as he showed the audience the true picture of Italy after the Second World War. The different changes in the society that had taken place in the nation of Italy will be discussed in this paper. The effects of the global war, economic instability, exchange of power and the shift of the focus of the cinematic and literary world; all of this will be discussed with reference to the neorealist film, The Bicycle Thief. The cinematic effects will have be discussed as they are the integral part which has contributed to the neorealist Italian cinematic world.

The film focuses mainly on the glorified idea of warfare against which the real picture of political instability and poverty of Italy is displayed. The real picture of depression which was an aftermath of the war was exposed. After the war, cinema and films started to act as a tool or weapon which was used to focus on the central theme of communist strategies which existed in Italy after the period of tyranny led by Mussolini. The exchange of power from praising a dictator who exploited the mass for political stability and misuse his power to choosing their own government who would fight and revolt for the suppressed and marginalized section of the society; the ideas aligned to the working class of Italy had also started to change. People started to view such pieces of art as party propaganda as the neorealist elements in the films indicated and focused on a specific part of the society. Considering The Bicycle Thieves or Ladri di biciclette directed by Vittorio De Sica in 1948 was hugely appreciated by audiences of several kinds. However, it angered several government officials and conservative critics for its portrayal of Italy which was extremely real and socially degrading at the same time. The international audience was very fond of his portrayal of the poverty and unemployment which had started to spread in Italy after the Second World War. The film focuses on the story of a bill poster who is named Antonio. On his first day of his job, his bicycle gets stolen. The character Antonio represents the status of unemployment in Italy as he remains hopeful to find a secured source of income. He is seen to be facing constant disapprovals and dejections from his own son and wife. Their living condition also symbolizes the reality of the Italian society after the war. Due to the lack of economic stability, their home has been shown as a cave like apartment with no supply of clean drinking water. Although he is seen to have high hopes, he does not support breaking the civic values of contemporary Italian Society (Ben-Ghiat, 2001).  De Sica used the geographical positions like dark alleys; dirty soup flowing kitchens, frustrated unemployed men in neighborhood brothels to indicate the poor state of the society of Italy. This sense of frustration gives a push and energy to the film to make the audience understand about the emotion of the film.

The Rise of Neorealist Films

De Sica had casted a real worker from Milan to ground the audience and make the message that is being delivered extremely clear. The depiction of the surrounding and the life of the poster boy make the film rotate along the bourgeois standards which had started to develop. The focus shifted from the rich to the working class who had to face the different kinds of social, political and economic problems. The casting of a real worker had added to the unfortunate aspect of the working class. The film had also targeted the audience pertaining to the similar class background as they found the film had acknowledged their struggle and hardships. De Sica mentioned that with the help of this film he wanted to cover all the topics which were not covered by newspapers and media. In a way he had challenged the system of Italian political system and the media which used to cover very selective stories. His objective was to bring the voices of the humble and oppressed to be heard. He wanted to show the real picture of the helpless. De Sica carefully established the factor that the culprit can easily become the victim during such times; especially when the authority of the government body does not respond to the needs and requirement of the person belonging to the working class. For a slight opportunity, the person can consider the unethical job to be helpful to earn just to survive. At the end of the film, the bicycle is still seen to be missing. Antonio himself becomes a bicycle thief and follows this to be his strategy of survival. Due to the constant downfall of the economic structure in Italy, Antonio eventually forgets the morals and ethics just like Italy had started to become corrupt and the government did not focus on functioning to help mitigate poverty by providing job opportunity. Therefore, it can be seen how the film equally concentrates on the struggle of the classes to survive in this world.

The film, The Bicycle Thieves does not just expose the crisis of the Italian society after the war; it had highlighted several other social problems like the fall of the patriarchal family structure. Antonio was seen as a father who could not financially support his family and was publically humiliated as well. Although he chose the path which inflicted the other unethical ways of earning; Bruno could not see his father become a great supportive figure. He had always supported his father and also criticized him for not being able to support financially, still Bruno was seen as the ultimate caregiver. The success of a neorealist film can be understood by the impact that it overshadows n the religious and political bodies. After the film was released, several Christian Democrat Officials claimed that the film had intentions of negatively portraying the nation of Italy. Several bodies in authority had mentioned that filmmakers should not be allowed to focus on such sensitive issues of the nation and put it under a negative light. Several religious centers had filed court suits against the production of the film labeling it to be a dangerous work. The filmmaker De Sica along with the protagonist who played the role of Antonio both had to suffer as the film went out to the public. However, there were various organizations which helped the film reach to the targeted audience belonging to the working class.

Depiction of the Italian Society in The Bicycle Thieves

Along with the revolutionary themes and ideas which were added to be a great part of this film, the structure and narrative of the film showed the usual trail of life which continues even after the end. The war had affected millions of people and after the war ended, people kept living their lives. The normal or usual pace of life was still maintained even after the turbulent period ended. This symbolizes that the war was itself a struggle and the struggle did not end there. As Italy was defeated in the Second World War, the impact of that on the nation was certainly difficult to deal with. The changes in the political structure which began from the downfall of Mussolini to a government body with rigid political ideologies; this had impacted several art forms in Italy. This had firstly affected the literary forms of Italy from which the changes in cinematographic elements were inspired. Even though it was shamed and boycotted by several officials and people placed in apposition of power, the film, The Bicycle Thief is an appropriate example of the neorealist movement which emerged in Italy. The film industries in other countries, as it is very often compared to the successful American film industry, were still focused on producing according to the demands of the public. The demand consisted of focusing on the unrealistic depiction of warfare and the normative idea of a connection between a man and a woman. Italian film industry post second world war shifted their focus from the imperialistic adventures and the upper class protagonist to the reality and hardships of the working class. It shifted from people being well dressed in their royal inhabitants to technicians, small business owners, students, soldiers returning to the real world after being away for war. This sudden shift from the upper class glamorous portrayal to a dark and dingy display of the working class was taken by surprise by many avid cinema watchers. Bazin had commented on viewing The Bicycle Thief “Bicycle Thieves is one of the first examples of pure cinema. No more actors, no more plots, no more mis-en-scene. It is in the end the perfect aesthetic illusion of reality: no more cinemas”. Filmmakers and writers started to look for a purpose when they came across the neorealist movements and started to change the idea of cinema as a tool used for entertainment. There was minimal artistic element in the film as it focused greatly on the idea of representing reality. It wanted to strongly focus on the greater sense of reality making the motive and message of the film extremely transparent. The expressive devices which were used were highly intentional and were used deliberately to make the position of the reality stronger. De Sica had always highlighted the non political aspect of his films. He believed that the portrayal of political agendas and propagandas are already being done by newspapers and the media. The purpose off his work is to focus clearly on the reality without hiding anything from the audience. Considering it to be a great realist film, it revolves around the main theme of people. It is however partly individualistic and non political were the troubles of Antonio are being highlighted here along with the tragic situation of Italy from 1945 to 1951 (Lawton, 1979). 

Antonio's Struggle and the Reality of Post-war Italy

The Bicycle Thieves was called to be the only valid communist film which rejected the glorification of the world around by the rich who did not have to particularly worry about procuring a meal for him and the family. The struggles of being unemployed and worried of not getting enough to run the household prepared the thematic element of the film. By opposing the power structure, it was indeed difficult for the people indulged in making the film. There was a sense of anxiety to predict if the usual audience would like this form of cinema. De Sica had his own ideals and objective to portray Antonio, his son Bruno and his wife who had equally struggled to help her husband. It exposes the police of Italy as well showing that the authority of Italy usually do not support or show interest in helping the people belonging to the working class. This is mostly because helping a person from a lower social status cannot help the policeman gain recognition. This shows how the system of authority used to work in Italy again creating a controversy to attack the police. In reality a person from a basic background will require a lot to gain sympathy from the crowd and the government structure in power. It requires a lot for the individual to make others believe that their concerns are genuine and requires attention just like a rich man whose concerns are innately genuine.

In such a moment of despair, it shows the difference between right and wrong. The idea seems to be extremely blurred as for surviving in the world, the wrong or the unethical will have to be done if the right path does not provide with adequate resources. After the war, as despair, depression, sense of alienation started to spread quickly, the unethical activities started to rise.  Crime rates, theft, robbery was seen to be on the rise. These are considered to be wrong however, it was required for people to run their households or sustain themselves. De Sica was seen to be inclined towards the portrayal of truth.  For possessing this quality, he hardly received money to film his ideas. He mentioned that the mundane elements of our lives are all worthy of being included in drama and cinema. Filmmakers like De Sica and other writers and filmmakers involved in the neorealist movement have the similar tendency of focusing on bringing out the unpleasant form in front of the public. Dramatists and others involved in theatres and films had discovered the element of making the audience uncomfortable to make them understand the gravity of the situation. With a strict and rigid cinematic format, the portrayal of the reality would not have been displayed properly. The life of a laborer, how he struggles on a regular basis to establish a life for himself and his family, all depend on the factor of keeping the base of the film close to the representation of truth. As mentioned above this can bring along some consequences and conflicts as truth itself is a brutal device which symbolizes resistance. Previously, the Italian working class was portrayed in Italian films in a different way. On the termination of World War I, several Italian film productions were shut down. The rise of the depression made people aware that they require people like filmmakers and writers to focus on the contemporary world. Several films came out which indicated the advent of fascism in Italy. After focusing on the grand themes of fascism, writers and filmmakers   started to concentrate on the topic of colonialism, land reclamation and the rise of modernity with the aim of challenging the class and gender hierarchy (Webb, 1987). 

Conclusion

With the Italian workers movement which started with the end of the Second World War the power of religious parties started to float on the surface. A clear conflict between the catholic and communist ideologies was seen to be contradicting. With the successful suppression of working classes the catholic based democratic parties started to exploit the nation of Italy. This is when the socialist and communist organizations with concrete political ideologies started to protest against their policies and ways of ruling. Both Catholics and Communists started to use the medium of films to form their campaign so that it can reach people far and wide and will aid in getting votes. Though they began to misuse and exploit the forum of cinema to receive votes. This constant conflict between the religious and political aspect made people aware that their wellbeing and thoughts were not being acknowledged. Thus the public were made aware of their surrounding and come across the truth behind the fight for power. Several religious and political clashes were seen after the Second World War in Italy indicating the poor structure of governance. 

References:

Ben-Ghiat, R. (2001). The Italian Cinema and the Italian Working Class [Ebook]. Retrieved 11 January 2022

De Sica, V., Bartolini, L., Carell, L., Maggiorani, L., Staiola, E., & Zavattini, C. (1968). Bicycle thieves. Lorrimer.

Lawton, B. (1979). Italian Neorealism: A Mirror Construction of Reality [Ebook]. Retrieved 11 January 2022,

Shore, M., & Vivarelli, R. (2009). Winners and Losers in Italy at the End of the Second World War [Ebook]. Retrieved 11 January 2022.

Webb, M. (1987). The City in Film [Ebook]. Retrieved 11 January 2022.